Supernova

Rated: M

Directed and Written by: Harry Macqueen

Produced by: Emily Morgan and Tristan Goligher

Starring: Colin Firth, Stanley Tucci, Pippa Heywood, Peter Macqueen, Nina Marlin.

Birds chitter and chirp and early morning sunlight filters in, glancing across two bodies tangled up in their doona and in each other, as they slumber on in their golden cocoon.

If earthly bliss could be captured, this moment might be it.

Of course, this being fiction we know it cannot last.

Actually, there has been a degree of misdirection, so this scene does not really mean exactly what it appears to mean.

Despite what some may fear, this film is far from maudlin. The script is well thought out and subtle, and the performances by Colin Firth as Sam and Stanley Tucci as Tusker are tender and nuanced.

Sam, a concert pianist, and Tusker, a novelist, are embarking on one last road trip in their campervan before Tusker becomes too incapacitated by the early onset dementia he was diagnosed with two years earlier.

The pair plan to wend their way through the countryside of northern England, stopping off wherever they may find themselves, for their first night a supermarket car park, until they reach Sam’s childhood home and his sister, Lily (Pippa Haywood), who now lives there with her husband Clive (Peter Macqueen) and their young daughter (Nina Marlin). From thence, the couple hope to travel on to the concert venue where Sam is to stage what he expects to be both his comeback performance and his swansong.

While Tusker is doing all in his power to ensure that Sam remains closely connected to his career and to the people who care about him, the trip is his idea, Sam, after much soul searching, realises that he is prepared to sacrifice everything to spend whatever time he can with Tusker.

Woven through their banter and everyday bickering and hinted at in the intent behind their gestures, the deep feeling that the couple share is delicately evoked.

Although the country lanes the couple travel along are verdant and lovely, many of the film’s deeper encounters occur at night as Tusker shares his fascination with the cosmos, first with Sam on a sleepless night as they seek out the Milky Way together and then with his niece Charlotte as they lie on the grass staring up at the stars. In some ways, Sam and Tusker’s journey could be seen as a dark night of the soul.

While the title Supernova is clearly related, its meaning was not immediately obvious to me. So, I began by looking at the way a supernova is defined: an unusually bright star that suddenly lights up the sky, even though the star itself no longer exists. It has already exploded. When translated into film the reciprocal moment is quietly devastating. Lily, attempting to persuade Tusker to accept Sam’s help, says, ‘You’re still Tusker. You’re still the guy he fell in love with’.

Tusker replies, ‘No. I’m not.  I just look like him.’

How to maintain their relationship and their love in the face of this unthinkable reality forms the crux of the couple’s dilemma and the scaffolding for a beautifully wrought and haunting film.

Voyagers

Rated: MA15+Voyagers

Directed and Written by: Neil Burger

Produced by: Basil Twanyk, Neil Burger, Brendon Boyea

Starring: Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, Fionn Whitehead, Chante Adams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Viveik Kalra, Archie Madekwe, Quintessa Swindell, Madison Hu and Colin Farell.

“I’m scared.”  “Of what?”  “I don’t know”.

It’s 2063.

Life on Earth is deteriorating with ongoing drought and famine.

The only hope for humanity is light-years away – two generations away.

Where populating a new world means creating a class of humans that can tolerate living in close quarters, without sunlight or interaction with any other humans except the thirty crew sent into space.  And Richard (Colin Farrell).

Richard has educated and raised the crew destined to live on the spaceship, HUMANTUS.

If he goes with them, he can at least try to protect them.

“Protect us from what?”

Voyagers is about that scary idea of what is truly human nature.  Without rules, it’s the rule of the jungle (or space?).

So what happens to a group of teenagers when their chemical restraint is lifted?

What happens when impulse takes over, never having learned to control all those basic human desires and drives to survive?

I admit to being in a cynical mood walking into this film, and the intended message of enlightenment because of all those extra layers of grey matter eventually making sense over the kill or be killed instinct had the potential of feeling like an overdone premise.

Having said that, it was interesting to watch the handling of that survival instinct from writer and director, Neil Burger (Limitless, The Illusionist), as the crew dealt with overwhelming hormones AKA getting high on life, and the drive to kill those hitting on your girl or for any slight.

It’s tense with flashes of overriding emotion depicted in montages of screaming and flesh rising in goosebumps to tunnels of blue light and the soundtrack of silence rising with disjointed strings.

It’s a theme that creates an innate fear of seeing what we are capable of, but without overdoing the horror of humans, while keeping up the intensity with a few jumps as this group of young adults figure out what it means to function as a social group.

Timely with the current generation growing up with the threat of climate change and pandemic.  Strange times.

And although I feel like I’ve seen the idea of unpacking human nature played out many times before, such as adaptation, Lord of the Flies, well, think any coming-of-age movie, there’s enough suspense to keep, Voyagers interesting.

Nobody

Rated: MA15+Nobody

Directed by: Ilya Naishuller

Written by: Derek Kolstad

Produced by: Kelly McCormick, David Leitch, Braden Aftergood, Bob Odenkirk, Marc Provissiero

Executive Producers: Derek Kolstad, Marc S. Fisher, Annie Marter, Tobey Maguire

Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, RZA, Aleksey Serebryakov and Christopher Lloyd.

Bloody, handcuffed and lighting a cigarette, to then reach into his pocket to open a can of tuna?  Kinda sums up the character that is Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk).

He’s a veteran.  But known only to be The Auditor.  A seemingly benign role that more likely means the last person you’ll ever meet.

But now, Hutch is a family man with a wife, Becca (Connie Niesen) and two kids.

The family moments are captured well, without overdramatising the sentiment – how is it kids know just the right thing to say to make you feel better?

Although, I was confused about the extent of Becca’s involvement or knowledge of Hutches previous life.

But the gist of the changed man was there; the family life where every day seems the same: ‘I may have overcorrected,’ is one aside from Hutch.

Until a pair of robbers break into his house.

Nobody has that classic formula of bad guy turned good until he’s wronged.  He’ll take punishment even though he knows he can retaliate.  He’ll take it until he’s pushed too far.

And if you think that sounds a little familiar the script is from Derek Kolstad (John Wick franchise).

The getting pushed was a little weak here.  But the retaliation was awesome.

Bloody and vicious with broken-bat-wiped-across-chest, and hit over the head with boiling tea kettle action (classic) included.

There’s a character in the credits named, ‘Big Brute,’ which aptly sums up the enemies Hutch has to take down.

And Odenkirk as Hutch is good fun with his asides and ever suffering demeanour – but he’s not too layered.  More, a need to break out of his self-made prison and to bloody his fists to feel alive again.

Christopher Lloyd as grandpa is a cracker.

But the story felt a little thin to me – maybe there’s a sequel coming with backstory?  AKA the John Wick series?  That would be a treat.

So without too high an expectation, well, I did go in with really high expectations being such a fan of Odenkirk, I was a little disappointed but overall still had a lot of fun.  Great ride.

Godzilla Vs Kong

Rated: MGodzilla Vs Kong

Directed by: Adam Wingard

Produced by: Thomas Tull, Jon Jasni, Brian Rogers, Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod

Screenplay by: Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein

Story by: Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields

Based on: Godzilla by Toho King Kong by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper

Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir and Kaylee Hottie.

Kong bows to no-one.

But it’s a fight until one submits when it comes to the Alpha Titans.

A sequel to, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, here the ancient enemies, Godzilla and Kong are kept apart – Kong detained back at Skull Island and Godzilla keeping his peace with humanity. Until he attacks Apex Cybernetics seemingly unprovoked.

But there’s more to Apex lurking beneath the surface, Godzilla instinctively sniffing out any challenge…

There’s always an expectation with the mega monster movies of some cheesy moments, Godzilla Vs Kong the fourth film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse – and there’s some borderline dialogue with cliché comments like Dr. Nathan Lind’s (Alexander Skarsgård), ‘I might have an idea, but it’s crazy.’

And, ‘No one keeps the reigns on Kong,’ from Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall).

But combined with Kong waking up, scratching his hairy butt before taking a morning wash under a waterfall, it all kinda blends into a light-hearted banter that keeps the film rolling in between explosive monster fighting action.

Godzilla Vs Kong is loud, colourful and at times I felt like I was on a roller coaster.

Going back into the history of the two ancient titans, with redacted documents flashing at the beginning of the film, I thought there’d be more to the story. But the backbone of the film is the fight to be the alpha titan: the fight not so much the why.

What was surprising was the effects as ships sped up to 600km through blue lights and exploding through a crack in the centre of the earth to break into the upside-down Hollow World that tilts back onto itself, filled with sparkling blue rocks and lush forests and bat-like vultures reaching out with strong legs to rip you apart.

I highly recommend viewing this film on the big screen.

Made for a younger audience with asides from returning character, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown), along with, I’m-afraid-of-guns, Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison); there’s also the conspiracy theorist, Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), and, ‘That podcast is filling your head with rubbish,’ from Madison’s dad – I was still able to have a giggle at the antics of the characters, while silently cheering for both Kong and Godzilla. Hard not to be a fan of both.

And while there’s nothing new here with the story (or didn’t feel like it,anyway), I enjoyed the spectacle.

For me, better than, Godzilla: King of Monsters but not as good as, Kong: Skull Island (John C. Reilly as Marlow: pure gold).

Cosmic Sin

Rated: MCosmic Sin

Directed by: Edward Drake

Written by: Edward Drake and Corey Large

Produced by: Corey Large

Starring: Frank Grillo, Bruce Willis, Brandon Thomas Lee, Perrey Reeves, Corey Large, Lochlyn Munro.

A sci-fi action movie that lacked a good hook and in the end, missed the mark.

Cosmic sin: When a species makes a pre-emptive strike, to commit genocide and wipe out an entire race – to stop a war that hasn’t begun…

A task General James Ford (Bruce Willis) has already had practice, wiping out 70 million souls when a colonised planet wanted to separate from the Alliance.

Cosmic Sin is a sci-fi that leaps through the years from 2031, the first colonisation of Mars, through to 2524 when humans make First Contact with an alien species.

‘We may not be alone in the universe,’ says Lt Fiona Ardene (Adelaide Kane), one of the only believable characters in the film.

Ethnologist Dr. Lea Goss (Perry Reeves) wants to know if the contact was positive or negative?

First contact was not positive.

Hence General Eron Ryle (Frank Grillo) making the call, bringing in the Blood General, in case they need to drop another Q-Bomb, to not just stop a war but to save the human race.

The clock ticks as minutes pass since first contact while a rag-tag team is put together to follow radio-active tracing back to the alien’s home planet.

To fight to save humanity.

It gets a little dramatic shown in the conversations between the team members provoking a feeling of forced sentiment that didn’t go anywhere because it was all glossed over, the emotion relying on strings in the soundtrack and some knowing eye contact.

I guess what you’d expect from an action movie, but I wanted more meat with this storyline of making First Contact – not just an immediate: us versus them.

It felt contrived: the honking horns, machine guns, smoking cigarettes.

The dialogue missed the mark as well, with only a rare moment of light-hearted exchange, mostly from the Bruce Willis character, ‘I’m just thinking,’ says his side-kick Dash, (Corey Large), who both wants to fight and buy his general a drink.

To which Ford replies, ‘Did it hurt?’

The effects were OK, with space ship battles like red laser tag while the team shot past in armoured space-suits.

The film was shot using Sony Venice cameras at 6K with Zeiss Master Anamorphic lenses.  The look of the film made by, “‘baking in’ a high contrast photographic look into the raw files, thus allowing the colorists to dial in the films primary colors: black and magenta.”

But the story felt choppy, like another draft was needed. And the forced emotion, l have to say, made me cringe.

Black Box (Boîte Noire)

Rated: MBlack Box (Boîte Noire)

Directed and Written by: Yann Gozlan

Produced by: Wassim Béji, Thibault Gast, Mattias Weber

Starring: Pierre Niney, Lou de Laâge, André Dussollier, Sébastien Pouderoux, Oliver Rabourdin.

French with English Subtitles

“Make the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) talk”, says Renier, head of BEA (Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety) (André Dussollier) to investigator Mathieu (Pierre Niney) after an Atrian 800 passenger plane goes down for, ‘Reasons unknown.’

Just starting to write this review you can already see there’s a lot of tech-speak in this film.  Which I enjoyed.  The analytics conducted by main character Mathieu just added another dimension to this suspenseful investigation of what really caused a brand new aircraft to crash during it’s flight from Dubai to Paris.

Mathieu specialises in acoustics.  He’s precise.  He can hear changes in black box recordings other investigators can’t.   But the price of his skill is not being able to stop hearing.

He’s always questioning, always listening, even when his team leader, Pollack (Rabourdin) tells him to stop.  Even when his wife, Noémie (Lou de Laâge) becomes afraid he’s hearing things that aren’t there.

The film invites the audience to listen as carefully as Mathieu as he investigates, literally pulling me to the edge of my seat, following the twists of this mystery as the story goes deeper.

I really don’t want to go into detail about the storyline or give anything away.  But to say I was completely absorbed into the film, the scenes flowing from one moment to the next, the layering of one moment so the first viewing is given a whole new perspective when replayed again later as Mathieu visualises the moments before the crash, like piecing together a puzzle, so we see how his mind works.

He’s, ‘Very clear and precise.’

‘Don’t get Pollack’s (Oliver Rabourdin) back up’, says Noémie.  ‘There’s more to a job than skill’.

To which Mathieu replies, ‘So I say nothing?’

He’s fearless in his need to find the truth, yet doesn’t need to wave a flag about it.

This is a finely tuned and balanced suspense-thriller that had me hanging on every turn.

Release part of the 32nd AF French Film Festival 2021

 

Demon Slayer – Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train

Rated: MA 15+Demon Slayer

Directed by: Haruo Sotozaki

Written by: Ufotable

Produced by: Akifumi Fujio, Masanori Miyake, Yūma Takahashi

Voices: Natsuki Hanae, Akari Kitō,  Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Hiro Shimono, Akira Ishida

Early in the film, a motley band of friends is racing to jump aboard a steam train that has already begun pulling away from the station. They are hampered by their swords which they need to keep hidden from the other passengers. Even so, they all bring their swords aboard because, ‘You never know when a demon might appear.’

Their plan is to meet up with the revered Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku (Hiro Shimono), and join him in the Corps of Demon Slayers. Forty passengers have recently disappeared off the Mugen train and there are suspicions that demons have infiltrated the line.

One of the essential differences between this film and its western counterparts is the way that the bad guys are conceptualised. In the west the baddies are stars and their backstory and motivations are often the focus.

Whereas in the Japanese film, demons do not act according to reason. The Japanese demons are almost solely defined by their appearance and their actions. This, of course, switches the role of their heroes also.

I noticed this in particular when I compared Mugen Train with Wonder Woman 1984. While both films are about vanquishing demons there are some significant contrasts.

In Wonder Woman, the evolution of the villain from smarmy snake oil salesman type to world conquering demon is far more nuanced in comparison to the personal journey of the exceptional being graced with magical powers who swoops in to save humanity from a demon who is manipulating the population through their wishes.

In Mugen Train the aspiring demon slayers all hail from humble backgrounds. Even the Flame Hashira Rengoku has come from a modest home and has risen above some heart wrenching setbacks.

The demon slayers could be you or me if we were that devoted to a cause, with Inosuke (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka), the boar-headed one appealing to the lustier side of our natures.

While ravening demons that immediately regenerate may have an unfair advantage in battle, at least until they are beheaded, the demon slayers each have a spiritual core which aligns them to the vast elemental forces of the earth.

Rengoku is able to call upon the Blooming Flame Undulation and Blazing Universe forms to pit against Destructive Death: Air Type of the demon.  Life hangs in the balance as the monster Akaza (Akira Ishida) confronts him with his own mortality, ‘Strength isn’t a word to describe a body . . . If you refuse to become a demon I’ll kill you. You’ll die while you are still young and strong.’

In this film dynamic action sequences and epic battles with a slew of hideous, soul slurping demons, but there is also a deep reverence for the fragility of life this planet and the elements that support our being. This is a film that ends with the question, ‘What’s more important than grief?’ It is a question the film asks so delicately we barely notice that we have been asked, and yet it is asking us to identify what it is that we will fight to the death to save.

Whenever I think of adult animations I usually feel that I have outgrown them so I was in for a surprise. The animation is so sensitively wrought, visually rich and poetically resonant in a piece of filmmaking with subtlety and depth.

Boss Level

Rated: MA15+Boss Level

Directed by: Joe Carnahan

Written by: Chris Borey, Eddie Borey and Joe Carnahan

Produced by: Joe Carnahan, Frank Grillo, Randall Emmett and George Furla

Starring: Frank Grillo, Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts, Annabelle Wallis, Ken Jeong, Will Sasso, Selina Lo, Meadow Williams and Michele Yeoh.

Roy Pulver (Frank Grillo) is stuck in the death loop of a never-ending day.

Sounds a little familiar (couldn’t help thinking back to Happy Death Day, etc).  But, Boss Level has the tone of an 80s arcade game, opening at Attempt 139.

Complete with 80s rock and muscled martial arts (Roy a former Delta Force captain, of course) and macho voice-over, I cringed a little with the dialogue when Roy’s apartment was getting shot-up and he nonchalantly says, ‘I’m never getting my security deposit back.’

But as this guy gets killed over and over again, sometimes in a sequence of yeah, this is me missing the back of the truck, and where is that bus?  As he crashes through the glass, pieces of glass patterning his face like a porcupine.

The voice-over dripping with sarcasm grew on me:

‘I think you have a better chance of growing a penis on your forehead.’

There’s some great tongue-in-check here which is such a classic layer to an action movie.

And by action, there’s car chases and sword fights, harpoon through chest and attached by rope to car that drives while being dragged behind…

Mel Gibson (is back?!) as the villain, Clive Ventor, shines as he tells an apt tale in warning to Dr Jemma Wells (Naomi Watts).

Now this is where it gets a bit flimsy, the doctor is Roy’s wife.  And she works somewhere on something top secret and time altering…  And there’s not much else to that side of the story:

Bad guy.

Time machine.

Threat to end the world?

Basically, it comes down to Roy fighting to get to the end of the game, each fight like a level to get to the end, to the Boss Level.

I could get philosophical and say the story’s a metaphor for growth to overcome selfishness, to fight to get to what matters in life.  And there’s some of that here.  But mostly, Boss Level is a fight-em-up, cheeky action movie that felt a little undercooked but still tasted OK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vRtfeUW_CU&t=6s

Minari

Rated: PGMinari

Directed and Written by: Isaac Lee Chung

Produced by: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Christina Oh

Director of Photography: Lachlan Milne

Editor: Harry Yoon

Starring: Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Scott Haze, Yuh-Jung Youn, Will Patton.

Korean with English Subtitles

A ‘Carther Truck’ rental tumbles down a dirt road ahead.

There’re hay rolls in the paddocks.

Black cows.

And the look of concern in the rear-view mirror.

It’s been Jacob’s (Steven Yeun) dream to plant a crop of vegetables traditionally grown in his home country Korea, but here in America.  And finally he’s brought his family to where he sees his dream coming true: pan to a portable house but really a trailer still on it’s wheels in the middle of a paddock.  And the threat of a tornado.

Welcome to Arkansas.

“This just keeps getting better and better,” laments Monica (Yeri Han), Jacob’s wife.

A city girl.

She doesn’t understand why they need to live in the middle of no-where.

But when your job is sexing chicks – the male chicks placed in the blue container, the female in the white, knowing the blue container is for the furnace because the male chicks don’t taste as good or lay eggs – it’s hard for Jacob not to want to make himself useful.  Otherwise he might just end up as smoke in the sky.

Manari is the story of the family trying to make it work.  Making that tree change and making the dream a reality.

The first priority is his family.  But to look after his family, Jacob feels like he needs to achieve something that’s his.

It comes around.

A theme shown in the subtleties – Anne (Noel Kate Cho), the young daughter echoing her mother, “it keeps getting better and better”.

And how fire can mean the end, but also the beginning.

There’re all these bitter-sweet moments, like when Grandma Soonja (Yuh-Jung Youn) comes to stay – but she’s not a real grandmother, says David (Alan Kim).  She swears and doesn’t bake cookies.

But she loves David so much she can laugh, and she can make fun, she smells like home: she finds the perfect place to plant, minari.

It’s in these quiet circles the family drama of Minari is shown with sunlight shining through the long grass, the warmth of Paul (Will Patton), the crazy God loving American who is just so weird but such a gift.

There’s little David with his cowboy boots and stripy socks.

And there’s hardship.  But that just makes those good moments all the more sweet.

Most of the time I was smiling through-out this film, with a rise of emotion here and there, just a little melancholy.  Kinda like taking a walk in the afternoon, with the sun shining behind some cloud cover that gets you feeling the breeze and the moment a bit.  The sun comes out again.  Then you walk home.

The Little Things

Rated: MThe Little Things

Directed / Written and Produced by: John Lee Hancock

Produced by: Mark Johnson

Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto, Natalie Morales.

“It’s the little things that get you caught.”

I know there’s some heavy hitters here – director John Lee Hancock (“The Founder,” “Saving Mr. Banks,” “The Blind Side”); and three Academy Award winning actors, but, The Little Things felt like a film that didn’t know if it wanted to be a drama or a crime thriller.

Deke (Denzel Washington) is a man recovering.  He’s been suspended, divorced and has had a triple bypass – all in six months.  He’s not a detective that let’s go of a case.

Fast forward five years and Deke is in uniform, called back to LA on an errand.  Back to his old precinct where the chief is not happy about his return.

But some of his old buddies are happy to see him, remembering the old him.  The one who got the job done.

His replacement, Jim Baxter (Rami Malek), a god-fearing golden child, knows there’s rumours about him.

“You’re a popular guy,” he jokes.

But Baxter will take any help he can get, the pressure on with a current case of four dead.  And no suspects.

The foundation of the story is the two cops getting to know each other as they chase leads while unraveling the mystery of Deke’s past.

The film becomes more crime drama than crime thriller.  The violence watered down.  For me, taking away any suspense.

The murders they’re investigating are never seen, the terror of the crimes never a focus, just a car following behind, the splatter of blood across a crime scene or the ghosts of the dead still haunting.

The characters are the story so the mystery of the crime takes a back seat.

I admit, I prefer crime movies with more grit.

The soundtrack didn’t help.  There’s no build, just a background giving that feeling of thinking while the cops try to figure out the crime, and each other.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a strong performance here from Denzel, the chemistry between Deke and Baxter a good hook with some further interest thrown in with Jared Leto as the bad guy, his slow reptilian stare unsettling.

But the lack of any visceral violence or any real suspense left his bad character more comical (on purpose) at times, than scary.  He’s right on that edge and with more grit he would have been outright terrifying.  But again, it felt like the film was filtered.  Making this a more cerebral viewing.  And yes there are some clever moments.

But the pacing didn’t build those aha moments so although there’s some satisfaction, the story gets lost leaving the feeling of a missed opportunity.

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