STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON - film

Allow me to start with a confession.

What I know about Compton can be summarised by this picture:

Yes they're cheerleaders, but they're financially challenged cheerleaders.

Anyway the point is, the film Straight Outta Compton, which chronicles the rise of hip hop group NWA, is arguably not my cup of tea. I may or may not have told someone it was about The Beastie Boys before I'd really read up on it.

I really thought I wouldn't enjoy it at all but the great joy of low expectation is the potential for it to be exceeded, as it was when I watched this film. Same can be said of the friend I saw it with. Double endorsement!

I enjoyed watching the dramatisation of how this group of young guys fought to make their musical dreams come true in the face of considerable adversity. That said, at 2.5 hours long it was 1 hour too long.

It's going gangbusters at the US box office which is a great sign. And The Guardian's Mark Kermode gave it 3 out of 5 stars which is about right for me. 

Trailer here.

A WALK IN THE WOODS – film

Based on author Bill Bryson’s autobiography of the same name, this film follows Bill (Robert Redford) and his childhood friend Katz’s (Nick Nolte) hiking journey of the 1000 mile Appalachian Trail in America.

Cue light-hearted gags about old guys doing things they might not be up to.

If you thought it would be tough for a Robert Redford-type to walk 1000 miles through the bush (complete with snow at times), spare a thought for the Nick Nolte-type. Crikey, that guy has done some rough livin’.

Exhibit A:

 

I read a review of this film that called it “pleasant enough to watch, but by no means riveting or revolutionary” and I thought it a perfect summary.

Trailer here.

LAST CAB TO DARWIN - film

 

This Aussie film follows Rex, Michael Caton, on his journey to Darwin, undertaken after discovering he has terminal cancer and that the NT is legislating to allow medically supervised euthanasia.

Knowing that about the film I'd prepared for it to be sad & packed a bunch of tissues but it's really quite uplifting. I didn't cry once actually, though there was some poignant moments. It's a drama but told with wry Australian humour so there is some laughs to be had.

There was one let-down for me. AFL commentator Brian Taylor plays a football coach and how the fact that he cannot act very well escaped the notice of the film makers is beyond me. 

Michael Caton, on the other hand, was excellent.

I was surprised to find about 40-50 people in the same suburban cinema as me when I went to see it. Perhaps this film has more legs than most Australians films of late. I enjoyed it but it probably doesn't make it up into rush-out-and-see-this territory.

A 3.5 star Leigh Paatsch review in the Herald Sun here if you want to read more.

Trailer here.

MR HOLMES - film

Ian McKellen as an ageing Sherlock Holmes. The guy is good. Soooo good. 
Truly, I don't think I've seen McKellen be better. 
I mean, I'm not across his back catalogue or anything, but you get the idea.

This film is current day 93 year old Holmes living with housekeeper Laura Linney and her young son. Holmes and the young boy form a lovely bond though it's a bit sad that it's often in unity against Linney's Mrs Munroe. It's a nice story of connection between the two but the other story running through the film is better, to my mind. As current day Holmes is increasingly losing his memory to dementia, he's trying to remember an intriguing case from back in the day for a book he's writing. The two stories run together pretty effortlessly.

I suspect it's a fairly sugar-coated depiction of dementia but I guess given everyone's experience of the disease is different, it's not for me to judge.

Here's a four star review from the Sydney Morning Herald if you want to know more. Happily recommend this.

Trailer here.
 

TRAINWRECK - film

The stars of Trainwreck Amy Schumer and Bill Hader visited Australia from the US to promote this film and promote they did! It seems like they were on every TV show, radio show, print publication and blog in town.

So when the celebs come to town and your favourite hosts on The Today Show, Nova, The Project etc interview them, you know they pretend to have liked the movie even when they thought it was crap, right?! I mean, I get it, it would be super awkward if Karl Stefanovic said on national TV to Angelina Jolie "This movie is really terrible... did you get that feeling as you were making it or did it only become clear when you watched the finished product?"

So when everyone in the media was raving about Trainwreck, I wondered whether to believe the hype.

BELIEVE THE HYPE, PEOPLE!

I wanted to love this film because I love Amy Schumer, an accomplished stand-up comic, who wrote the film and stars as the leading lady; a character based on herself of many years ago. And I did love it, damn it!

It's laugh-out-loud-funny (including some great slapstick humour which I personally love) but more than that, which I confess I was surprised by. I cried at the heartfelt moments and not just an attractive tear rolling down the cheek 'cry' but actual red-face crying.

Amy and Bill are both so great in this but you want a surprise package? Check out basketballer LeBron James as himself! An excellent and seemingly effortless performance. Also Tilda Swinton who is barely recognisable but also excellent, as always.

Finally, any film that acknowledges that Billy Joel's Uptown Girl is a bloody awesome song gets my tick of approval.

If you don't get to the movies very often but enjoy a laugh, make this one happen!

Check out this four star review in the New York Post if you want to know more.

Trailer here.

(Opens 6 August in Australia but keep an eye out for sneak preview screenings in the meantime.)

RUBEN GUTHRIE - film

I've thought about this Australian film a lot since I saw it earlier this week. I'm a bit up and down as to whether I like it and could recommend it. That probably makes me a crappy blogger but I always want to be honest with you, dear readers.

Ruben (Patrick Brammall) is an advertising guru who's living the high life - amazing house by the Sydney Harbour, hot model girlfriend, booze, booze and more booze. You get the picture.

His girlfriend gets fed up and skips town but says she'll give it another shot if he stays sober for a year. Ruben has an emotional watershed moment pretty early on the film and you know what? I just felt no empathy for him. We just hadn't been given enough reasons to care about this guy yet. It was a strange moment in the film.

What follows is an interesting look at how unbelievably hard it must be to give up the grog when it's under your nose constantly. Alex Dimitriades is great as his camp mate who presents constant temptations because he's so bored by how dull Ruben is sober and that's just one of the many things luring him back to the bottle.

Also a shout out to my home girl Robyn Nevin (Ruben's mum) who I just love. This isn't her best work but seriously, even her worst work is great.

If I must summarize it, I guess I'd put it in the middle of the road. Certainly not terrible but also not amazing. If you do see this, I'd love to hear what you think.

The Herald Sun's Leigh Paatsch called it "irksomely uneven" in his review which I guess is in keeping with my experience. He gave it two stars.

For a more positive take on it, here's a 3.5 star Sydney Morning Herald review which is also a good source of background on the film is you're keen to know more.

Trailer here.

GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY & THE PRISON OF BELIEF - film

I wouldn't usually blog about a film having seen it so far into the run in cinemas, but Going Clear rates a mention regardless of circumstances.

If you have even a passing interest in psychology, faith, Scientology, spirituality, Hollywood, vulnerability, power, the infamous break-up of Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, cults, whether Tom Cruise is really as bonkers as he seems (think, jumping on the couch on Oprah), religion, people's need for guidance or 'answers', L. Ron Hubbard ETC ETC ETC, then you should see this.

All you need to know is that it's a FASCINATING documentary about the Church of Scientology, in which former members give some truly alarming accounts of what goes on in their very secretive world.

Check out this piece in Vanity Fair 'The six most disturbing moments from HBO's Scientology documentary Going Clear'.

Here's a five star review of the film from The Guardian if you want to know more.

Trailer here.

TERMINATOR: GENISYS - film

The latest installment in the Terminator series of films (number 5) is what I imagine the previous installments are. That's right, I haven't seen them. Well, I think I might have seen Terminator 2, or at least some of it... if you're getting the impression this isn't exactly my genre, you'd be right.

So here's what I reckon. 

I was pretty confused by this film. I wonder if it would have helped to see the previous installments but I can't be sure. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but I thought I wouldn't at all so the bar couldn't have been any lower really.

Arnie features but as someone who's more into politics than Terminator movies, I found it very hard to process him as something other than a Governor. At a stretch, I can just picture him as a kindergarten teacher (or 'cop', if you like) saying "It's not a tumor".

I think if you've enjoyed the previous Terminator flicks you should consider seeing this. I'm not saying you'll enjoy it, I'm just saying you're the only hope this film has. I think if you haven't seen them or didn't enjoy them you should definitely give it a miss.

If you're considering it and want to know more, check out this one star review in The Guardian and this three star review in Rolling Stone magazine. (Three stars is as good as it gets, as far as I can tell.)

Trailer here.

INSIDE OUT - film

The latest animated flick from the Pixar crew, this one doesn't disappoint.

11 year old Riley moves to a new town with her parents and the main characters in the film are the feelings in Riley's subconscious as she deals with the move; Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust and Fear. Amy Poehler is the voice of their ringleader Joy and just bring so much, well, joy to the role.

As you could imagine, when an 11 year old moves to a new town it's not all smooth sailing. Sadness especially keeps creeping in and even Joy struggles to maintain the joy sometimes. I confess I shed a few tears. It's just lovely.

I think kids will love this and the parents who go with them will like it too. Like I said, not all joy, but the 'lessons', if you could call them that, aren't phoney or lame, just real-world emotion processing going on.

It's getting rave reviews and I can only add my voice to the chorus. Paul Byrnes from Sydney Morning Herald says in his review that it's an "astonishingly good movie, not just a great animation".

Trailer here.

ALOHA - film

It's not a good sign when a film director is getting publicity for apologising for his film. Oh dear, Cameron Crowe.

He says it's "misunderstood", I say it's "crap".

It's pretty hard to get past the fact that Emma Stone (above left) who is very much not either Hawaiian or Chinese plays a woman who is supposedly a quarter Hawaiian and a quarter Chinese. And it's actually part of the story. She talks about that heritage. It's ridiculous, you guys.

I thought about how to explain the convoluted plot to you in a 'cut to the chase' style but you know what, given my message is to stay well away from this one, I'm not going to bother.

Just take my word for it and give it a miss. Happily I didn't have to pay to see it but if I'd dropped down a lobster to see this I'd be disappointed, to put it mildly.

The one saving grace for me personally is that it also stars Bradley Cooper who has the most beautiful face I have EVER seen. I could stare at him for days.

If you want to read more about the film check out this review in Variety. To give you the flavour of it, it opens with "Unbalanced, unwieldy, and at times nearly unintelligible..."

If you want to read about Cameron Crowe's defence of the film, check out this Fairfax article.

Trailer here.

ENTOURAGE - film

A spin-off from a the very popular TV show of the same name, this film follows movie star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his 'entourage' made up of hopeless and not-nearly-as-attractive-as-Vince brother Drama and childhood friends E and Turtle.

This film has had some pretty stinking reviews so I went in with fairly low expectations. They were exceeded! I laughed a lot mainly thanks to the cutting humour of Vince's one time manager, now movie studio head, Ari Gold played by Jeremy Piven.

If you enjoyed the TV show, I reckon this will give you what you want in the main. It's still Vince, E, Drama and Turtle being the same old guys kicking around Hollywood trying to make it big. In the film, Vince is having his first run as a film director which plays out fairly predictably but not in an unpleasant way.

My only significant criticism of it is that I HATED the ending. I don't want to spoil it but I will say this - you can't spend eight seasons of a TV show making us believe a character is a complete loser and then expect us to suddenly believe he's a winner.

Two star review from the Sydney Morning Herald here if you want to hear what a proper critic thinks and/or know more about the story.

Trailer here.

PARTISAN - film

You know those films where it's really well done, it make you think and the performances are excellent and yet watching it made you feel all blergh? This is one of those.

Now, that can be a good thing. If your taste skews towards arthouse films and you don't mind watching something pretty challenging, I think you'll like this. However if you're someone who goes to the movies once or twice a year for a bit of light escapism, this is definitely not for you.

This is an Australian-made film with a Melburnian directing (Ariel Kleiman) but I doubt you'd guess that if you saw it not knowing. 

Set somewhere in war-ravaged Eastern Europe, it's the story of Gregori (Vincent Cassel), who is basically a creepy cult leader, and his mission to recruits kids and train them to become assassins. It's the kind of plot which, in the wrong hands, could go very wrong but it's handled delicately by Kleiman.

I wonder if Kleiman wrote it off as part of the mystery as to where this film is set but I did find it a bit jolting when the accents didn't seem to add up. For example, at least one of the kids had a pretty clear Australian accent and hearing it really distracted me and jolted me out of the story.

Australian critics are divided. Two stars here from Fairfax and four stars here from News Ltd.

Trailer here.

A ROYAL NIGHT OUT - film

A fictional-but-apparently-based-on-a-handful-of-actual-facts account of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret hitting the town in London incognito during the Victory in Europe celebrations in 1945, this film is charming.

It's not going to win any awards for being groundbreaking but it's fun and lovely to watch. 

There's not a lot of reviews around to direct you to as it's only just released overseas. Coincidence that it coincides with the birth of Princess Charlotte? I think not! But ok, ok, it's actually more about the timing of the anniversary of VE day - 8 May.


Regular readers of this blog will know I'm not a fan of long films. 90-100 minutes is optimum, I say! This one comes in at 98 minutes, the perfect length for an inoffensive and fun flick like this.

Here is one review though from 'Screen Daily' if you want to read more about the story etc.

Trailer here.
 

PITCH PERFECT 2 - film

This film is damn good fun. If you liked the original Pitch Perfect, definitely get along to this one for more laughs.

The makers of this film know their audience and give them what they want. It helps to have seen the first film but this does stand alone just fine.

I laughed a lot, with Rebel Wilson's character 'Fat Amy' getting the lion's share of the gags. She delivers time and time again in this.

Trailer here.

And if you're not familiar with the Pitch Perfect phenomenon & want to know more, read up on it here.

THE AGE OF ADALINE - film

If I explained the implausible storyline of this film to you, I know with absolute certainty you'd say 'that's so dumb' so I'm not going to bother. 

Just know it somehow stars talented actors like Ellen Burstyn and Harrison Ford and yet it induced derisive laughs from the group I watched it with. Actual laughs, guys. And not in a good way.

If you are interested in how silly the story line is, I will break it down for you below.

MASSIVE SPOILER ALERTS TO FOLLOW DO NOT SAY YOU WEREN'T WARNED.

Woman (Blake Lively) with 6 year old child is in car accident.
Car accident causes woman to become 'ageless' meaning she will be 29 years old forever.
Woman moves towns and changes names regularly so as to not arouse suspicion.
Her child ages normally and grows into elderly wise woman with a 29 year old mother.
Elderly daughter convinces 29 year old mother to 'stop running' and find love.
29 year old mother meets a guy & falls in love.
29 year old mother meets said guy's parents.
Said guy's father recognises her as the love of his life from back when they were both young.
WHAT A COINCIDENCE, GUYS!
Said guy's father tries to make her come clean.
She runs away.
She has a car accident while running away.
Boyfriend finds her in car wreck.
At hospital, she wakes up and explains implausible situation to boyfriend BECAUSE SHE'S IN LOVE AND CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE.
She discovers the car accident somehow fixed the ageless problem.
YOU GUYS!
They live happily ever after.

Trailer here.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

A quick look at the small list of comedians I've seen at the festival this year, if you're looking for a recommendation...

Brilliant/ loads of laughs / highly recommend:
Judith Lucy
Rhys Nicholson

Great / worth a look:
Justin Hamilton
Joel Creasey

Good potential / room for improvement / up & comers who will probably be on TV & radio in 5-10 years:
Dilruk Jayasinha
Becky Lucas (This show was only 40 minutes long & had a strangely abrupt ending & sombre tone.)

I found hilarious but suspect it's an acquired taste:
Karl Chandler

MANNY LEWIS - film

Oh boy.

It's usually actually a bit fun to blog about a film that's terrible but to be honest, it always hurts a little to do it to an Australian film.

This film is Australian. And it's pretty terrible.

Written by and starring comedian Carl Barron, you'd think there'd be a bunch of laughs but sadly, there's not much of that.

It's meant to be a "feel-good quest for love" for Barron's Manny Lewis but the character spends the vast majority of the film being depressed and you know what it's like to watch a film where the lead character is depressed? Depressing. And not very funny.

I'd tell you to give this a miss but I suspect this is the first you will have heard of it and given there was only four people in the session I was in on the weekend and it only came out a week ago, it'll be gone before you'd even thought seriously about seeing it. Another sad day for the Australian film industry.

If this film is in any way biographical, I think Barron ought to see a therapist instead of making a film next time he feels the urge.

Never one to mince words, News Ltd's Leigh Paatsch called it "one of the most truly terrible Australian films in living memory". 

Trailer here.

'71 - film

This is a drama about a British soldier caught behind enemy lines in Belfast in 1971, during what's known as 'the troubles' - the violent conflict in Northern Ireland.

The film is fantastic. The tension is just so real, I could feel it physically in my body as it built. The soldier is accidentally left behind by his unit when they're caught up in a riot and the story follows his dramatic attempt to escape to safety.

Highly recommend this one and for what it's worth, it doesn't skew particularly to either gender - a general crowd pleaser I think.

For more on the story, check out this four star review in The Guardian.

Trailer here.

TOP FIVE - film

I wanted to love this. I really did. A comedy written and directed by a world-famous comedian should be amazing, right?! (I'd also read this rave review in the LA Times so went in with really high expectations which seldom works out well...)

Alas, this film from Chris Rock, also starring Chris Rock, is a liked-but-not-loved kind of scenario for me.

He plays stand-up comedian Andre Allen in this film and Andre is trying to break the mould he finds himself in after appearing as Hammy the bear in a trilogy of action comedy movies. He's also in a loveless relationship with a reality TV star - think Kardashian.

It's hard to escape the fact that the storyline is just so predictable. I did laugh a bit (the scenes where Andre goes back to hang out with his family who don't cop his 'rich & famous guy' thing are very funny and Chris Rock/Andre Allen doing stand-up was also great) but nowhere near as much as I hoped I would in a film from someone with this comedy pedigree.

In the interests of fairness though, I present this very positive review in Rolling Stone magazine, also good if you'd like to read more on the story.

Here's the trailer.

SEVENTH SON - film

I'll declare from the outset that fantasy films aren't really my taste so Seventh Son, an 'epic fantasy' was always going to struggle to please me.

But to my mind even if you like fantasy, you won't like this pile of excrement. Honestly, I just found it a total bore.

It stars Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore so I guess I hoped that even though it wasn't really my genre that it would still be ok. I mean, Julianne Moore just won the Oscar for best actress for crying out loud! Alas, she is let down by a terrible script. And as for Jeff Bridges, his character speaks like he has a mouth full of marbles, with an affectation fit for a leading man in a suburban theatre company Shakespeare production. (The kind of guy who can't quite work out why he isn't starring opposite Cate Blanchett in an Melbourne Theatre Company production... you know the type.)

Anyway, give this one a wide berth I reckon. DVD/digital at home, at best.

This review of it in Variety is pretty funny, if you're interested in reading more about the story and what a proper critic thinks. (eg. "Here, it’s downright uncomfortable to watch an actor as good as Bridges fumbling lame one-liners")

Trailer here.