I was awed by this film, with mouth dropping open at the scenery, the use of light, the pattern of rock, the flowing yellow fabric of Lady Jessica’s dress in the desert wind, the explosive bombs dropping from spaceships, desecrating the landscape below and the story of betrayal, political play and intrigue.
There’s that absolute silence that again invites the audience to lean in, to then jump (there are so many jumps!) with explosive action, the audience gasping and twittering as the monsters prowl, purr and claw people apart.
Starring: Darby Camp, Jack Whitehall, Izaac Wang, David Alan Grier, John Cleese, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Sienna Guillory, Russell Wong.
Emily Elizabeth (Darby Camp) has just moved to New York with her mother, Maggie (Sienna Guillory). Emily’s the new girl at a posh school. On a scholarship. The last thing she wants is to stand out.
When her mother has to leave town for work, she leaves Emily with her Uncle Casey (Jack Whitehall). A happy-to-lucky individual now living out of his van who, ‘thinks green M&Ms are a vegetable.’
When uncle and niece see an Animal Rescue tent, Uncle Casey’s instinct is it’s a great idea to go in. So they probably shouldn’t.
And that’s when the magical and lovely Mr. Bridwell (John Cleese) introduces Emily to a small red puppy.
He’s so cute and tiny.
But they’re not looking for a pet and Emily’s mum would not be happy. And neither would the super of the building – No dogs!
To which Mr Bridwell replies, ‘Best time to find them is when you’re not looking for them.’
It’s all a bit lovely.
I didn’t think I’d be taken with this animated red dog. But the way his tail keeps wagging happiness and those expressive brown eyes kinda got me.
Emily really needs a friend, but Uncle Casey is adamant, ‘I’m not going to fall for your little girl powers!’
But somehow, the little red dog makes it into their hearts. And home. Because it’s magic, right?
And with a single tear of love and a wish for the small red puppy to become big and strong so the world can’t hurt them, what was small and cute becomes enormous and, Clifford, The Big Red Dog.
This is a film about growing up, with a little magical help to stand up and be confident mixed in with the funny antics of a big red puppy knocking over everything, chasing large balls with people running inside them and the asides from Uncle Casey who sees the sloth as his spirit animal.
The film’s a blend of the animated dog with human characters in real world settings with, sneezes-in-the-face reactions and well-delivered lines that I found surprisingly funny.
I enjoyed, Clifford the Big Red Dog more than I thought I would, originally thinking the humour would be targeted at a much younger audience. But there’s some ticklish humour here for the adults (the uncle saying he doesn’t wear deodorant because why mask our natural musk?!) and some mad, nasty sheep that’s just funny for everyone.
It’s not all rainbows and butterflies. There’s a big corporation trying to invent big food to feed the world so of course they want to pull apart the magic that is Clifford to find out what makes him so big.
They can’t win though. Because it’s love that makes him big.
It’s just one of those kind of movies.
And there’s a nice message there for the young kids as well, ‘The people who are unique? They’re the ones who will change the world.’ Good fun.
Produced by: Thomas Robsahm, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
Executive Producers: Dyveke Bjøkly Graver, Tom Erik Kjeseth, Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum, Hans Olav Brenner, Helene Bjørneby.
Viewed in Norwegian with English Subtitles
“You need to be completely free.”
Julie (Renate Reinsve) stands smoking in a black cocktail dress with the city in the background.
The Worst Person In the World follows Julie as she figures out life.
She starts off studying to be a surgeon, then psychology then photography.
Moving from one thing to the next, she never quite finishes anything. But she lives and loves.
The film is set out in 12 chapters, with a prologue and epilogue. This is the analytical part of the film and something the character Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) would appreciate. He’s a comic creator that analyses everything.
Julie loves him.
But doesn’t love him.
Aksel tells her, You need to be completely free.’
That’s the first time she realises that she loves him.
Until she meets Eivind (Herbert Nordrum).
In an interview with director and screenwriter Joachim Trier, he’s asked to talk, “more about the very literary way the film is broken into chapters?”
“We had this idea early on when writing: to show fragments of a life and that the space between the chapters was as important as what we actually see. This is a coming-of-age film but for grownups who feel like they still haven’t grown up. To find a structure of covering several years in a life, from when Julie is in her mid-twenties to her early thirties, we found the humour of a “literary” framework to help us tell that story. The almost novelistic form also reflects Julie’s longing for a grand literary destiny, almost as if she unconsciously wishes her life to have a literary form.”
I’m trying not to think too deeply about the explanation of, coming-of-age film but for grownups who feel like they still haven’t grown up. I related to this character, Julie, as she tried to figure out what she wants or why she feels the way she does.
But more than relating to the feelings of how to navigate love while remaining independent and free (yes, am still thinking about the film a week later), the way the film’s put together adds to that feeling of running towards what’s right.
That moment when everything else ceases (literally frozen in the film) as Julie runs through the streets to imagine that feeling of being in the right place. And then going for it. It’s hard not to get swept up into it all.
There’s something refreshing about seeing all those silent thoughts shown in a clever way so the film is more than a romance or a drama, there’s a quiet that’s absorbing. Like the silence is there to allow reflection.
Colours are used to introduce the film: yellow and blue to black and are then circled back to later so there’s this sense of completion, like Julie reaches another layer, like it’s that layer she’s been searching for all along.
And the dialogue adds another element, the, ‘Intellectual Viagra,’ comment.
And, ‘She’s just shy.’
‘That’s what you say about boring people.’
Again, silence used when Aksel says, ‘Kids are intense.’
To which Julie replies by taking a large sip of red wine.
It’s a journey that ended up in places unexpected – sexy, clever, sad and poetic.
If you’re not usually a fan of romance, this is one of the good ones.
Produced by: Grant Hill, James McTeigue, Lana Wachowski
Executive Producers: Bruce Berman, Garrett Grant, Terry Needham, Michael Salven, Karin Wachowski
Based on the Characters Created by: The Wachowskis
Screenplay Written by: Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell, Aleksandar Hemon
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Priyanka Chopra, Jessica Henwick, Yahya Adbul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Daniel Bernhardt, Neil Patrick Harris, Jada Pinkett Smith, Christina Ricci, Lambert Wilson, Daniela Harpaz, Eréndira Ibarra, Max Riemelt, Ellen Hollman, Brian J. Smith.
The Matrix Resurrection introduces this sequel (forth in the series) with a 90s monitor: a square cursor flashing. The code begins scrawling across the screen. In green, of course.
Welcome to The Matrix 2.0.
There’re new characters resurrecting old ones: Mr. Smith (Jonathan Groff) is now Neo’s partner in a gaming company; Morpheus (Yahya Adbul-Mateen II) is back in a new form.
But Neo remains the same (Keanu Reeves). Trinity, now Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss), remains. They’re just a little older.
But non-the-wiser.
Ha, ha.
It’s that kind of movie.
There are many puns thrown through-out the film – sometimes heavy-handed like the cat with a tinkling collar named: déjà vu.
Mostly, there’s references to the original Matrix (1999) as the film layers the past into the present, so Resurrections becomes self-referential not only to the original film but also to itself. To the extent that if a moment felt twee, the twee would then be made into a joke like a self-parody.
I noticed the silence at one point only for the silence to be commented on as an indicator of real living outside the Matrix.
It’s a cerebral film asking questions about the concept of choice: the blue or red pill?
Or is it free will versus destiny?
Or is life about fear and desire?
It becomes binary, one or the other – ones and zeros, like the program, The Matrix. Like reality is made up of ones and zeros. Like… The Matrix. Ah!
All mind bending moments aside, it took me a while to invest in Resurrections. Neo was somewhat lacklustre, with the repeated response, ‘yeah.’
But with the rest of the film being so clever, I guess that’s the nature of Neo. Not Neo. Mr. Andrews, still stuck in The Matrix. Even so, the re-layered moments I wasn’t convinced about, like the annoying self-professed ‘geek’ colleague of Mr Anderson remained, annoying.
The film does ramp up and yes there’s a ‘fresh’ take here that will get you thinking. I just wasn’t as convinced as the original because the characters spent so much time making fun of themselves to cover the forced sentiment that would have otherwise been too cheesy.
Screenplay written by: Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts
Produced by: Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Joe Caracciolo and Villeneuve
Executive Producers: Tanya Lapointe, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Kim Herbert, Thomas Tull, Jon Spaihts, Richard P. Rubinstein, John Harrison and Herbert W. Gains
Director of Photography: Greig Fraser
Costume Designer: Jacqueline West
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Stephen Henderson, Charlotte Rampling, with Jason Momoa and Javier Bardem.
The film opens with, “Dreams are messages from the deep,” written across the screen. A thread that flows through-out the film lending that magical touch to a film that at its foundation, is political intrigue.
Based on the novel written by Frank Herbert, Dune(Part One) is a story of the desert, greed, vengeance, witches and blood.
I was reminded at times of the previous adaptation directed by David Lynch, Dune (1984), immediately taken back with the spit scene, the device used so well then and used again here like a nod of respect to the previous film. There’s also John Harrison’s 2000 miniseries, “Frank Herbert’s Dune.” And the 2003 sequel miniseries titled “Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune,” starring James McAvoy. However, I’m reviewing Dune(2021) without comparison, preferring to take the film as it stands.
It’s 10191. The House of Harkonnen has been mining spice from the desert sands of Arrakis for the last 80 years getting obscenely rich, while the people of Arrakis are given nothing by the Outsiders but violence and pain in return.
It’s a system that has worked well. So why does the Emperor decide to give The House of Atreides the right to move into the desert city and take over the mining?
House of Atreides is powerful. Too powerful.
‘When is a gift not a gift?’
The Duke’s son, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) has to learn about the politics of the Empire quickly. He’s been trained to fight by Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), he’s been counselled by his father, The Duke (Oscar Isaac), he has been shown The Path by his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson).
So he trains, he listens to his father. And he dreams.
I liked the serious tone of, Dune, offset by the warmth of Paul’s friend, Duncan (Jason Momoa) and his father.
‘What do they say of Arrakis?’
‘To shower, you scrub your arse with sand.’
But mostly, Dune is a dark film. The waking life of Paul sometimes the stuff of nightmares with giant worms shifting the sand from beneath like the waves of an ocean, their massive mouths filled with teeth to suck anything that makes sound into their abyss; and the cruelty as the innocent are beheaded without actually seeing the gore – you don’t need to see the dead to know the deed is being done.
This is more about the foreboding build of tension that Denis Villeneuve does so well.
The film begins with the sound of a thudding heartbeat.
And here, Villeneuve’s trademark usage of the soundtrack is layered with the sound of different languages spoken and the silence of hands moving in sign language like the thread of the story pulled together into this web of intrigue from the Emperor and his games, the brutal Harkonnen made rich from mining spice, the mystery of the people of Arrakis and the dangerous power passed from Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica to her son.
What threw me was the introduction of hope into the film.
I enjoyed the desert aesthetic and tribal feel of the Arrakis people, but the hope of the people was pushed into dramatic territory and the build of tension began to fade.
But wow, I was awed by this film, with mouth dropping open at the scenery, the use of light, the pattern of rock, the flowing yellow fabric of Lady Jessica’s dress in the desert wind, the explosive bombs dropping from spaceships, desecrating the landscape below and the story of betrayal, political play and intrigue.
Produced by: Jonathan Vanger, Pierre Even, Cassian Elwes, Arielle Elwes, Wayne Marc Godfrey
Executive Produced by: Petr Jakl, Martin J Barab
Starring: Sir Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza, Scott Speedman and Rachel Spence.
Best Sellers is a film about a crotchety recluse writer (he has, ‘Piss off’ taped to his front door), and a failing publisher, Lucy Skinner (Aubrey Plaza).
Lucy’s boutique publishing house is about to go under if she doesn’t find a relevant writer fast.
Enter, Harris Shaw (Sir Michael Caine).
The introduction of Harris Shaw, follows his ginger cat as it makes its way into his study to find him coughing and typing. The phone rings, ‘He’s dead. Bugger off,’ he says.
Harris is the classic Johnny Walker, Black Label, cigar smoking recluse writer Sir Michael Caine was made for.
Swipe to classical music: the city, a clean office and publisher Lucy Skinner getting the latest review of her recent Young Adult publication being read by side kick and assistant, Rachel Spence (Elle Wong). It’s bad.
She needs a writer that will save the publishing house.
She needs Harris Shaw.
He could be dead,’ says Rachel.
Owing the publishing house a manuscript, on the proviso there’s no editing as long as he agrees to go on a book tour, Harris and Lucy set off in Shaw’s green Jag where he starts trending after introducing his book by reading an excerpt from Penthouse.
His favourite way to describe the book tour: ‘It’s all bullshite.’
‘Bullshite’ becomes a hash tag.
And of course the publisher and writer don’t get along, but along the journey bond while Lucy vomits in the toilet.
I like crotchety characters and movies about writers, so I enjoyed the banter between, ‘Silver spoon’ Lucy and, ‘It’s all Bullshite,’ Harris Shaw.
There’s tension and obstacles to overcome, getting to the heart of this abrasive yet brilliant man that got me cheering and quietly chuckling as Shaw declares his hatred for critics – it really does suck to be a critic sometimes.
But I have to say (speaking of being a critic) the soundtrack with that 70s jangle of music to try to lift the film into old-man-cheek, cheapened the sentiment. Shaw’s like a Hemingway character with his ginger cat and cigar smoking from his mouth while typing the next, Best Seller. The character deserved something more deliberate. More… blunt. Not, dandy grandfather music.
So there’s discord between the thoughtful and funny script writing from Anthony Grieco and the underlying tone built by the soundtrack.
The script includes snippets of poignant sentences like, ‘Art is not propaganda. It’s an expression of truth,’ giving the usual drama of, I’m-here-because-this-happened, a little more.
So when the character asks the question, ‘Who put a collar on you?’ Dandy guitars aren’t going to reflect the truth of the character.
Best Sellers is a good movie. Could be been a great movie.
Produced by: Liz Garbus, Dan Cogan, Mridu Chandra, Evan Hayes
Written by: Mark Monroe & Pax Wasserman
Executive Producers: Julie Gaither, Carolyn Bernstein, Ryan Harrington.
Becoming Cousteau is an inspiring documentary about the man who showed the world what lies below the surface of the sea.
With eyes staring through goggles, Captain Cousteau is quoted, ‘Diving under water is the greatest distraction.’
On land we’re constantly fighting gravity.
When asked what it’s like under the surface, he replies, ‘It’s fantastic. Imagine having no weight.’
In the beginning it was his curiosity that led him to dive deeper under water, to a place where he could dream.
When Germany invaded France in WWII he was able to forget what was happening on land. He was able to escape into another world. Where, for a time, he envisaged people living under the water.
The documentary is a linear biography of Cousteau’s life, from 1935 as a pilot for the Navy, to the end of his life in 1997. His life an evolution from an underwater explorer to inventor, film maker, philosopher, husband and father to environmentalist.
Universally respected as a scientist and explorer, his voice opened people’s eyes to the beauty of the underwater world, and the danger of losing it.
Through newspaper articles and interviews, footage from Cousteau’s many films, including Oscar Best Documentary winner and winner of the Palme d’Or award, The Silent World (1956), Cousteau showed the world life under the sea and even made an impression on Picasso who was amazed by the unexpected colours and held onto a piece of coral given to him by Cousteau until he died.
Thoughts written in journals are read of Cousteau’s experiences while sailing the seas on the explorer vessel, The Calypso.
Cousteau invents the Aqualung out of necessity, technology that allows him to dive deeper into the depths. And seeing more, discovering more he wants to take a camera with him so invents a case, so he can film underwater.
Inventor turned film maker, he created 52 TV shows as he satisfied his curiosity to explore the ocean.
His notebook was his camera.
The documentary paints a picture of a truly amazing and brave man. Yet there’s balance in the telling with the risk of diving further than before requiring, ‘a strong head and cold heart.’
He admits his curiosity ruling his life while he neglected his family.
And with the discovery of the sea in distress from all the pollution, there’re years of pessimism and grief for the passing of his son, Philippe.
Like the black and white film made bright with splashes of fluorescent colour, the film brightens with hope – The Cousteau Society still strong today in its efforts to conserve the environment.
But I don’t think the intention of the documentary is to share a message of conservation, although this was important to Cousteau in the later years of his life. The feeling is more a biography of a man whose curiosity led to fascination to then love and the want to protect.
Mental as Everything is a documentary that uses a quirky combination of animation, original music and lyrics and direct to camera discussion to tell the story of two musicians who provide mutual support and understanding for each other’s mental health conditions.
Even from the very first scene, it is obvious that it hasn’t been easy for Damon Smith and Adam Coad to share so much of themselves with the camera. This becomes clear when Damon introduces himself: ‘On the screen there is Damon Smith and that is me and this is my voice talking about myself while you watch me on the screen’. Immediately followed by, ‘This is awkward.’ And to double down on his point the word ‘Awkward’ appears in bright yellow letters against a black screen.
At first, Damon’s introduction does appear self-conscious and awkward, but it points up an interesting motif woven through the documentary. Damon is identifying himself as both an onscreen character and someone existing somewhere off screen giving voice and motivation to his onscreen likeness. This sense of duality is one of the things I found so fascinating about Damon and Adam’s story.
In some of the animations and in the lyrics of their songs Damon and Adam personify their conditions, with Adam describing panic attacks as lying in wait behind bushes while Damon poignantly refers to his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as an, ‘Outlandish Centralised Dictatorship’. This duality is a way, I think, to separate themselves from their conditions and give some critical distance to their inner torment.
On another level, Adam describes his mind as a seedy bar filled with sketchy characters, each more heinous than the next. While, at the same time, he acknowledges that, ‘Nothing is broken on the outside.’ On the outside, Damon and Adam are two very likeable and easy going mates and it is hard to fathom that they each have such a Sisyphean struggle going on inside themselves.
In giving this window onto their inner worlds, it is Damon and Adam’s intention to de-stigmatise their conditions, but their documentary is also filled with interesting snippets along the way, such as bananas being natural beta blockers that inhibit some of the physical effects of anxiety and as well as attempting to gently debunk some of the misconceptions that still cling.
When someone who likes to be clean and organised humble brags, ‘OMG! I’m so OCD,’ its not OCD that they are boasting about. For Damon having OCD is torture. One of his compulsions requires him to fulfill a ritual where he puts on and removes his socks seven times, and he must repeat the ritual until it has been executed to the implacable standards of the dictator within, otherwise there will be a ‘hellish outcome’. The humble bragger is actually referring to a much less cruel condition, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder.
Mental as Everything is a sensitive documentary that deals with its subject matter in a creative and insightful way, and Damon and Adam’s music adds to the appeal. A band with a double bass in their line-up is likely to produce an interesting sound and this one with its double bass, piano and drums, original music and lyrics certainly does that.
Featuring: Dave Mitchell (director, Paranoid Dramatics), Luc Hayward (writer, sound, costume design), Raymond Hayward (set designer), Peter Lawford (creature designer, special effects artist), Amie Wells (crew costume design).
Cast of Play: Jason Hill (Captain Dallas), Lydia Hayward (Lieutenant Ripley), Jacqui Roe (Science Officer Ash), Susan Baird (Ash Stunt Double), Carolyn White (Lambert), John Elliot (Brett), Mike Rustici (Parker), Scott Douglas (Kane/Xenomorph) and Penny Thorne (Voice of Mother).
‘Anything can happen on the night.’
Every year around Christmas across Britain, amateur dramatics groups put on a pantomime to raise money for charity.
Dorset dramatics group, Paranoid Dramatics have previously put on a crowd pleasing show about Robin Hood. But this time director, Dave Mitchell wants to try something different. Something close to his heart and his family’s, who’s obsession with the film, Alien is shown with great pride.
This time, he wants, Alien on Stage.
The actors: local Dorset bus drivers.
Adam, manager at the bus depot says in an interview that he’s seen the movie Alien, but ‘can’t imagine how you convert that into a stage drama.’
And that just adds to the comedy of the show.
This is one of those feel good doco’s about everyday people doing something extraordinary while having a good laugh.
Everyone pitches in.
It’s great excuse for a catchup and gossip – eating together, drinking together (instead of learning their lines). And in the end that’s what makes the film such a joy to watch. To see the backstage shenanigans; to get to know the people.
There’s Karl, the stage manager: ‘the director is my dad.’
Dave the director is ex-army and admits, ‘I can be blunt.’
There’s Lydia his partner also part of the team as, Ripley.
And Granddad Ray as set designer.
All the work is from scratch with the script adaptation written by Luc Hayward who was told he’d never see his work on stage (unless he considered moving to L.A.).
Then there’s Jacqui (Ash on stage) – her drama teacher the only one who ever gave her a chance, who stood by her when her head teacher said she’d fail every exam at school. All Jacqui wants to do is act. Even if it’s for free.
All the cast and crew want to be there. They want to do the work.
But then only twenty people turn up to watch the show.
It’s all disappointment then shrugged off with a smile.
Then the incredible happens when film makers Danielle Kummer & Lucy Harvey make contact (ha, ha), wanting to make this documentary. To film the journey as the, Alien On Stage production gets a one night show in London. At the Leicester Square Theatre.
The nerves. The excitement.
The trying to learn the lines.
This is a cast that doesn’t take themselves too seriously. And that’s part of the charm.
Just like the film Alien, it’s like two worlds colliding (well, the folk from Dorset a welcome visit, not eaten alive, even though they might feel it’s a distinct possibility) as the amateur theatre group gets thrust into the spotlight of the elite theatre district of London.
The incongruent adds that extra layer of wry humour which gives the documentary, as described by the filmaker Lucy Harvey, a touch of magic.
Kummer and Harvey follow all those involved in the project, replicating that square green font on computer screen (keeping in mind that Alienesque vibe), as the days count down to the big show.
It’s a behind the scenes documentary made up of interviews, rehearsals and Alien Cam – footage shot from the perspective of the Alien / Xenomorph while up on stage.
But any animation or finesse made by the documentary crew is background to the team that is, Alien on Stage.
I smiled through the entire film, seeing the genuine excitement and joy and so much laughter as the cast and crew pulled together to put on the best show they possibly could.
It’s absolutely nerve-racking.
‘My legs don’t work,’ says Lydia, just before walking on stage.
‘I’m going for a cigarette,’ says director Dave.
This is a lighthearted good fun documentary that delivers. I’m still grinning.
Now we’ve finally got a road map of when Melbournians are allowed back in the cinemas, we can look forward to the… 7th of November. Which is still a long way off. So, here’s a list of four star + movies available for streaming while we wait get back to the big screen:
