The Pope Was Dead to Begin With

Conclave opens with Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) arriving at The Vatican following the death of the incumbent Pope. It then falls to him to arrange and administer a papal conclave, summoning the world's cardinals to convene in seclusion and vote on who should become the next Holy Father. The principle runners are Stanley Tucci's Aldo Bellini, who wants to continue the previous Pope's liberal approach to modernising the church, Firebrand traditionalist Goffredo Tedesco (Sergio Castlellitto), conservative contender to be the first African Pope Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) and John Lithgow as popular but potentially dodgy Canadian Joseph Tremblay. There is also some intrigue surrounding the arrival of the Archbishop of Kabul, who claims to have been raised to the position in secret by the previous Pope. Shifting alliances and schemes play out as the contenders politic for the top job.

Everything on display in Conclave is as tights and pristine as it gets. Director Edward Berger brings the same meticulous and organised framing he displayed in All Quiet on the Western Front, the adapted script by Peter Straughten is watertight and the cast speaks for itself. The main worry going in was that everything would be very earnest and "Oscary" but a little boring. Fortunately that couldn't be further from the case. Sure, there is plenty of texture here, with rumination on the meaning of faith, moral examinations and a spotlight shone on the current political climate, but none of it gets in the way of delivering a crowd pleasing thriller. Strained alliances, shifting leaders and revelations ensure the two hours fly by.

The script strikes a subtle balance between giving us characters to get behind and leaving in some moral ambiguity. Of course it would be bad if the ultra conservative, roll the years (all the way) back candidate won but where is the line between voting with your conscience and simply being spiteful? What, if any, concessions should you make to win people to your cause? Shouldn't somebody bring some genuine Christian morality into the debate? Fiennes is the objective overseer but how hands on should he be in keeping the competition clean and is there a chance he harbours some ambition of his own? There is also the question of how many dominoes the deceased Pope set up in the awareness of his impending demise.

The film also takes a balanced view to the Catholic faith itself, positioning The Church as like any other profession in that it contains both the good and the bad. It is freely acknowledges that some truly terrible people have held the highest office and cardinals are portrayed as far from squeaky clean. It never descends to religion bashing though and Cardinal Lawrence delivers a Homily for the ages on the value of faith and need to embrace fallibility.

The setting does come with some limitations, chiefly the lack of female representation. Isabella Rossellini is on hand and the script does try to give her an impactful speech but it still feels like a bit of a waste. There is potential terrorist activity afoot outside the conclave that the cardinals are supposed to know as little as possible about (outside events may influence their decision making) but ultimately it ends up feeling a little contrived in order to produce the desired ending. Not that said ending isn't satisfying.

Conclave is slick political thriller first, earnest drama second and all the better for it. Make time for this sermon and you'll be treated to great visuals, a sweeping score, best in Sunday class acting and a truly diabolical vape hit.

9 past indiscretions resurfacing out of 10

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He-Management

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Welcome to Earth

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Rushed Girl

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Sick Burn

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Its a Scary World Out There

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The Bourne IT

The set up for The Amateur is a well worn one, a man loses his wife in a terrorist attack and goes on a mission of revenge. The twist is, that while Rami Malek does play a man with a particular set of skills, they aren't the ones you would expect. Charlie Heller is a socially awkward CIA cryptographer with precisely zero fighting ability and no experience using firearms. He is though, a technological genious who invented half the agencies cyber security and can track and predict patterns like a computer. When his blatantly shady boss, played with smug glee by Holt Mccallany, refuses to act on Charlie's info about the killers he blackmails him for some training and the green light to pursue the perpetrators himself. The two main questions are, can the mild mannered tech guy thrive in the field and is this twist on the formulae enough to carry a fairly by the numbers espionage thriller? The answer to both is, pretty much, yes. Malek is tailor made for roles like this and it'...

Big City Slashing

Scream 6 is a definite improvement over last years weak entry in the franchise. In fact Scream 2022 now feels like a modestly budgeted water tester, putting the stabers out to see if there was appetite for a proper sequel. Things start with a bang, the introduction being the most interesting flip on the standard opening kill to date and from there its clear there is a cleqr sense of ambition about preceedings. Relocating to New York gives everything a fresh feel and a sense of scope that the last entry lacked with the film making good use of the opportunity to see a Ghostface acting differently. Rather than lurk in the shadows the killer can now hide in plain site and this iteration of the stabby Munch fan has some great dialogue and physicality. They also deliver some of the most graphic slayings a Scream outing has seen. Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega return as the Carpenter sisters and put in good performances even if the tension between them feels forced. There are issues...

There Can Only be One

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Tune In, Cop Out

Tuner lead character Nikki (Leo Woodall) hasn't had much luck. His parents aren't around and H yperacusis (an extreme sensitivity to noise) put an end to his piano playing days. Now he puts his enhanced sense to use as a piano tuner, working for mentor and father figure Harry (Dustin Hoffman). When Harry falls ill and into debt, Nikki takes on a sideline in safe cracking for shady security boss Uri (Lori Raz). All is well at first, but as time goes on it becomes increasingly hard for Nikki to juggle his day job, lucrative but dangerous side hustle and a blossoming romance with musical student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu). The set up may make you think you are in for a slick crime caper, but that's not really what this film is. Director Daniel Roher made his name in documentaries and Tuner has a very naturalistic feel. The city is vibrant and busy while close up shots show the intricacy of the pianos and locks Nikki has mastery over. We are following characters (mainly Nikki)...

I Got Bombs But I'm Not a Bomber

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