Review Category: Movie

MOVIE REVIEW: SPRING / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: JUSTIN BENSON, AARON MOORHEAD / SCREENPLAY: JUSTIN BENSON / STARRING: LOU TAYLOR PUCCI, NADIA HILKER, VANESSA BEDNAR, FRANCESCO CARNELUTTI, SHANE BRADY / RELEASE DATE:  APRIL 17TH

Evan (Pucci) is in turmoil. His life seems to be falling apart following the death of his mother, so he takes the advice of his friends and takes himself off to Italy. After a few boozy days with some fellow travellers, he meets a beautiful young girl, Louise (Hilker), who entrances him. Not put off by her off-the-cuff and hard-to-get manner, he decides to stick around after his drinking buddies move on. Taking a bed-and-work job on an olive farm (the wizened Carnelutti adding to the Mediterranean flavour), he begins seeing Louise, but despite seemingly getting along, remains strangely at arm’s length emotionally.

Things are not quite what they seem with Louise, as we find out she’s harbouring a secret. One which requires regular injections otherwise things get terribly ugly.

Although there’s a very real palpable sense of dread built, it would be a mistake to call Spring a horror film. The first act is mainly well-acted drama, then it moves gradually to mysterious romance, before the revelation, and then the there’s almost a presiding feel of a mythical history lesson. Under the dual direction of Moorhead and Benson (from the latter’s script), the different tones blend beautifully together. The former’s sumptuous cinematography makes the most of the glorious locations, with some stunning shots and fluid camera movements through the moody Italian street

The leads manage admirably with the dense, often complex material, and have a genuine chemistry together, which makes their emotional plight even more captivating. An appearance early on from The Battery’s Jeremy Gardner provides a light edge, but for the most part it’s a cerebral journey through a relationship that where commitment could come at too high a price.

It’s perhaps only when it comes to the somewhat suspect CGI that the film shows any flaws. Had it stuck to practical effects, it may well have got away with it. Thankfully, these digital flourishes are used sparingly and for the most part it’s icky, sticky and very gnarly.

It’s a film that requires a little patience and no preconceptions. Go in with an open mind, expecting nothing, and it will reward you with a wonderfully offbeat romantic drama, with just the right amount of elements to keep it with the ‘genre’. There’s an ethereal quality which is engrossing, rich in atmosphere and rather splendid. At times, it feels as though it could be heading into Cat People territory, but instead, the truth about Louise conjures a more intense ethical and personal dilemma. At its core, Spring is essentially about the choices we make for love. With added tentacles.

Expected Rating 6 out of 10
Actual Rating

MOVIE REVIEW: HOME / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: TIM JOHNSON / SCREENPLAY: TOM J. ASTLE, MATT EMBER / STARRING: JIM PARSONS, RIHANNA, STEVE MARTIN, JENNIFER LOPEZ / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 20TH

Big Bang theorists will get a kick out of hearing Sheldon voicing an alien invader, while kids will get a sugar rush off Rihanna songs and visuals that are positively bursting with bright colours in Dreamworks’ latest animation, Home. Genetically engineered to be a success, Home feels designed to sell merchandise and Rihanna records to excitable children waiting not very patiently for the Minions movie to arrive.

The Boovs are a race of small purple aliens who spend their existence following their cowardly leader from planet to planet. The Boovs know only how to run away from danger and, as a superior race of aliens known as the Gorg keep coming to destroy them, the Boovs are forced to continually flee, each time finding a new home planet. When they set up shop on Earth, unpopular Boov Oh (Parsons) becomes public enemy number one amongst his species as he reveals the location of their new home to their sworn enemies. Forced to flee the Boov authorities, Oh teams up with feisty little girl Tip (Rihanna), who has lost her mother when the Boov invaded. Can Oh help Tip to find her mother, but more importantly can the pair overcome their differences to save the planet from annihilation?

The familiar nerdy vocal tones of The Big Bang Theory‘s Jim Parsons will thrill children as he makes Oh a loveable character, especially when compelled to involuntary break into dance to those nailed-in Rihanna singles. He may look like a purple minion, but with Parsons providing vocals Oh really comes to life as a surprisingly warm character. It’s also a joy to see a character with the beautiful skin tone of Tip, spiritedly voiced by Rihanna, and the script sometimes subtly touches on ideas of acceptance and the difficulties of fitting in when moving to a new home.

What is less welcome is the frequent interruption of the singer’s own songs on the soundtrack. It would have made more sense if Home was a musical and Tip burst into song with the voice of the pop sensation. As is, the songs often feel hammered home and you can almost hear Rihanna’s record label rubbing their hands as they squeeze the songs in anywhere they can. At some points, rather than letting Rihanna do any of the emoting as Tip, the songs take over on the soundtrack, injecting a bit of much needed emotion into what could have been pretty stale proceedings.

Despite this cramming of singles onto the soundtrack, Home is also bursting with imagination and colour. The story is so swiftly set up to keep kids from fidgeting in their seats, that there isn’t much time to dwell on the Boov’s backstory. Neither is the takeover of Earth a particularly well thought-out or memorable set piece. Nevertheless, once Oh and Tip meet, the story starts to fizzle as Oh brings vitality and colour while Tip brings the sass. Transforming Tip’s car into a colourful slushy spewing flying vehicle, the slapstick will no doubt impress children while the heart put into their mismatched buddy relationship will inevitably tug at the heartstrings.

Some of the running jokes are fun, with Steve Martin’s fearful leader of the Boovs getting the most laughs while finding new uses for a range of ordinary Earth objects from tyres to vacuum cleaners. Jennifer Lopez barely gets a look in as Tip’s mum, and the inclusion of Tip’s cat will no doubt just help to sell a few more toys.

Still, it’s Jim Parsons that really makes Home worth a visit. He brings real personality and warmth to what could have been an annoying and completely forgettable character. The animators also do their best to keep the Boovs kiddy friendly; both very odd in design but also huggable in their minion-like slapstick antics. With a story that takes in outer space, America, Paris and Australia, Home certainly never settles too long and will keep kids gripped throughout its snappy run time. Most surprisingly and satisfyingly, Home manages to sneak in a winning subtext about cultural imperialism. Just don’t be surprised if the little tykes that watch it have been programmed to listen to even more of Rihanna’s records on repeat on the way home from the cinema. On the bright side, it might be a welcome break from Let It Go.

Expected Rating: 5 out of 10

Actual Rating:

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MOVIE REVIEW: CHAPPiE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: NEILL BLOMKAMP / SCREENPLAY: NEILL BLOMKAMP, TERRI TATCHELL / STARRING: SHARLTO COPLEY, DEV PATEL, HUGH JACKMAN, NINJA, ¥O-LANDI / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 6TH

After a detour to Los Angeles 2154 for Elysium, Neill Blomkamp returns to his native Johannesburg to tell the story of Die Antwoord, a South African band of rappers/criminals who manage to get their hands on a sentient robot, in order to pull off a heist and save themselves from a local gang lord. Seriously, the South African rap-rave group members NINJA and ¥O-LANDI, playing versions of their own on-stage personas, are on-screen as much, if not more, than the titular CHAPPiE, who gains sentience through a slightly contrived series of circumstances.

Once CHAPPiE does gain sentience, he starts to learn about the world around him, and soon becomes torn between the criminal aspirations of his “daddy”, NINJA, the more nurturing inclinations of his “mummy”, ¥O-LANDI, and the dreams of his absentee maker, Deon (Dev Patel). Time is short, though, as NINJA & ¥O-LANDI have a tight deadline to pay off a serious debt and one of Deon’s obsessed colleagues, Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman), has been sniffing around. If word about CHAPPiE gets out, it will cause problems for everyone.

Needless to say, a clash does occur in the third act, and the action scenes are some of the best scenes in the film, Blomkamp having lost none of his skill staging action, but these are joined by enjoyable scenes of CHAPPiE learning, mimicking NINJA’s rap gangster mannerisms while acting more like a child around ¥O-LANDI.  Apparently, Sharlto Copley performed the title role in the same manner Andy Serkis did for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, acting on-set with the other actors and then being digitally painted over later, and the work here is seamless.

The real star of the show, though, is NINJA. Despite his cartoonish appearance and gangster attitude, he has some of the most difficult parts of the film, incurring the audience’s loathing for tricking CHAPPiE into doing things he clearly doesn’t want to, even abusing him sometimes, but then managing to inspire sympathy later in the film.

Once the focus moves beyond the central trinity, things get bit more troublesome. Hugh Jackman’s Vincent Moore is a cartoonish psychopath from the off, lurking menacingly in his office cubicle in his short shorts with a gun at his side. Sigourney Weaver’s role has gained much attention thanks to Blomkamp’s recently announced Alien movie, but she gets very little to do here, easily manipulating Patel’s Deon only to be just as easily manipulated by Jackman later on. Considering Blomkamp’s recent comments on the script and story problems with Elysium, it’s strange that similar criticisms can be levelled here. There’s no real examination of what AI really is – Deon just creates it after a particularly long Red Bull-fuelled coding session – and the circumstances that lead to CHAPPiE’s creation rely on a number of coincidences that feel manufactured.

When the film hits its stride these issues fall away and those heartfelt and touching moments are contrasted nicely with the massive ultra-violence once Moore’s remote-piloted weapon platform is released. “The Moose” is Moore’s obsession, a distant cousin to Robocop’s ED-209 and one that has all the kinks worked out – like how to handle stairs (answer: fly!)

Near the end, the film takes a hard right turn narratively, delving into a very quick examination of the nature of consciousness before heading off into what could be a prelude to the singularity. It’s unexpected, but doesn’t feel out of place in this wildly uneven yet enjoyable film.

Blomkamp still hasn’t quite reached the heights he scaled in his first film District 9, but CHAPPiE quite happily sits alongside it and shows he is still a director with a very unique visual sense. Perhaps the next Alien film will prove to be his masterpiece.

Take one point off the rating if major plot points built around coincidences annoy you, and another if you had trouble understanding the South African accents in District 9.

Expected Rating: 9 out of 10
Actual Rating:

MOVIE REVIEW: THE VOICES / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: MARJANE SATRAPI / SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL R. PERRY / STARRING: RYAN REYNOLDS, GEMMA ARTERTON, ANNA KENDRICK, JACKI WEAVER / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 20TH

In its simplest form, The Voices is a black comedy centred on Jerry (Reynolds), a happy-go-lucky factory worker who happens to have conversations with his evil cat and his far-less-sinister, docile dog. When a date with a co-worker doesn’t go to plan, things take a murderous turn and the darker side of Jerry starts to come to the fore as he struggles with his past and with holding back his bleak thoughts.

Despite starting with quite the humourous edge, as The Voices goes on then the more sinister side of the film starts to become more prominent as the bodies (or heads even) start to mount up. With his cat essentially the devil on one shoulder and his dog an angel on the other shoulder, poor Jerry’s journey suffers a huge switch in tone as he struggles with the situation he finds himself in.

Satrapi’s film is most certainly surreal, with almost a sense of Don Coscarelli’s Bubba Ho-Tep or John Dies at the End to it and with moments that wouldn’t feel out of place in something like Flight of the Conchords or Eagle vs. Shark when it comes to the character of Jerry. Then there’s a darker element at play with a twisted Doctor Dolittle or even Norman Bates vibe to it. And throughout The Voices duration, it still maintains an almost innocence and naivety to the central Jerry.

There are some fine supporting turns here, if not sometimes a little tongue-in-cheek, but its most certainly Ryan Reynolds’ film. Regardless of what actions are going on, you always still can’t help but feel sorry for Jerry, and Reynolds is truly brilliant in how he delivers the character. As well as Jerry, Reynolds also lends his vocals to Mr. Whiskers (his cat) and Bosco (his dog), not to mention a few other characters that only add further to the psyche of the troubled central character of The Voices.

This is a film that sometimes may feel like its struggling to get settled into what it’s really looking to achieve, although that could well be by design as it does add a frantic, impulsive edge to the film much in the way that its central character struggles to find peace.

The Voices is a film that most definitely flips its tone at a moment’s notice; at times it can be simply brutal and even quite gory, yet there are also plenty of genuinely funny moments that will bring a chuckle to the most downbeat of faces. And as such, because of the more humourous moments, this only makes the darker moments more impactful and hard hitting, particularly when we get to take a glimpse into Jerry’s tragic backstory. All of this is even further added to by an expertly-picked soundtrack that is subtle yet manages to intertwine beautifully with the on-screen happenings.

Expected Rating: 6

Actual Rating:
 

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MOVIE REVIEW: SEVENTH SON / CERT: 12A / DIRECTOR: SERGEY BODROV / SCREENPLAY: CHARLES LEAVITT, STEVEN KNIGHT / STARRING: JULIANNE MOORE, JEFF BRIDGES, BEN BARNES, ALICIA VIKANDER, DJIMON HOUNSOU, OLIVIA WILLIAMS, ANTJE TRAUE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

In a strange medieval world where witches can turn into dreadlocked dragons, (not a spoiler, it happens in the film’s early moments) and are kept in check by “Spooks” – an order of seventh sons of seventh sons, supposedly gifted with great strength and an almost scientific method of combating magic – the one thing that’s the most hard to believe is that anyone can understand Jeff Bridge’s Gregory when he speaks! Bridges riffs his Rooster Cockburn character from True Grit but with a cod-English accent, growling and snarling his lines as if his mouth were filled with a whole quarry of pebbles.

Forced to find a new apprentice by the reappearance of Julianne Moore’s Mother Malkin, Queen of the witches, Gregory seeks out and buys Ben Barnes’ Tom Ward from his supposedly loving family and sets about preparing him to assist in confronting Malkin. Gregory needs the help as the Blood Moon is rapidly approaching, when her powers will be at their peak and she will wreak terrible vengeance on mankind for the persecution of her people. Along the way young Tom will need to learn about the world of witches, “ghasts” and the appropriate herb or potion to combat them, encounter a young half-witch and decide for himself if the only good witch is a dead witch.

The weird introduction of a hint of slavery into this fantasy story and its subsequent avoidance is only one of the many puzzling decisions made by the filmmakers. Bridges’ accent is another, no one else talks like him in the film and the actual “science” used in combating witches, which seems to mostly consist of throwing silver at them, which could have been an interesting hook for the film, remains underdeveloped. Tom learns the ropes of being a “Spook” somewhat reluctantly, despite yearning for adventure at the tale’s beginning, and it’s only after an encounter with a CGI Boggart that he has an unearned change of heart to embrace his destiny. Gregory, too, prefers to capture not kill his quarry right up until the moment he decides that he now prefers to kill.

While the film takes its inspiration from Joseph Delany’s The Spook’s Apprentice book, a cursory glance at the book’s Wikipedia page reveals that much has been changed, including changing one of Malkin’s henchmen into a slightly comedic sidekick of the Spook for no real purpose except to show that some monsters are okay, except for the ones that aren’t?

You can understand why the filmmakers changed the title too, as while the honorific of “Spook” may work on the printed page, it becomes somewhat ridiculous once uttered a few dozen times by the cast.

The film also features a hugely distracting production design with a mishmash of cultures and styles thrown into the mix intentionally, according to production designer Dante Ferretti, but that comes off as looking like someone just randomly raided the costume closet. This visually off-putting smorgasbord also applies to the locations, with the Spook’s house in lush wooded lake land apparently only a bell’s peal from a walled city in a desert landscape that looks like something straight out of John Carter.

Bridges and Moore have some fun in their roles, Moore slinking about it up in a succession of taloned, spined evening wear, but an almost complete lack of much needed humour prevents the audience having the same enjoyment, although God of War fans may get a kick out of seeing Djimon Hounsou throwing around a set of chained blades similar to Kratos’ signature weaponry.

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10

Actual Rating:
 

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MOVIE REVIEW: CITIZENFOUR / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: LAURA POITRAS / SCREENPLAY: N/A / STARRING: EDWARD SNOWDEN, GLENN GREENWALD, WILLIAM BINNEY, JACOB APPELBAUM, EDWARD MACASKILL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Directed by Laura Poitras and executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, Citizenfour is the story of Edward Snowden and his whistleblowing revelations about US surveillance, which broke headlines in 2013. The documentary was made under extraordinary amounts of secrecy and consisted largely of Snowden, Poitras, Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill together in the Mira Hotel in Hong Kong during the period when all the revelations broke out. The trailer for the film sells it as a chilling thriller in the mould of something like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and frankly, it’s not a million miles off.

The film does a very good job of telling the story of this man who was once an NSA contractor that became very disenchanted that he was essentially working on technology that he believed was part of a repressive state of technology and decided to go public with this information, only to end up finding himself in a position he found very threatening. Snowden then got in touch with Poitras, who impressed greatly with My Country, My Country and The Oath.

The whole film plays out almost like a spy thriller with encrypted emails being passed, arrangements to meet in foreign locales where there will be codewords and phrases being exchanged, and the bulk of the film takes place in this hotel room during the eight days when the revelations start going public and everything becomes incredibly frenzied. The most impressive thing about the film is that, firstly, it manages to make a very complicated story of surveillance technology fairly understandable to a mainstream audience.

Secondly, it manages to make the most of its confines, and even though it mostly takes place in a hotel room with people at laptops, it still manages to be very intriguing and fascinating. The reason is that there is this oppressive state of paranoia seeded throughout and there is a moment when Snowden points out that any type of phone can be used as a bug, and as a result, you become as paranoid as the people in the film.

Also, if you look back at the films that were made about Julian Assange (We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks and The Fifth Estate), they attempted to pick apart Assange’s personality on the one hand, rather than what he did, because Assange’s personality is completely overbearing and egomaniacal. In the case of Snowden, he’s completely the opposite. He’s almost a secretive person, somewhat camera-shy and doesn’t want the whole story to be solely about him.

The low-key, haunting symphonic soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross brilliantly blurs the line between reality and artificial, and the end of the movie does convince you that the surveillance industry has gone out of control. Even though the film was made under difficult circumstances and proposes risks to the participants involved, Citizenfour is an important historical event that is well told in proper dramatic fashion, and if you want a riveting spy thriller that even John le Carré couldn’t have dreamt of, then this will satisfy you. It’s a solid piece of cinema that offers a fascinating portrait of a man who appears to be doing something for honourable reasons, yet is caught in a circumstance in which he’s accounted for despite not wanting to be the centre of the story.

Expected Rating: 8 out of 10

Actual Rating:
 

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