Review – Furious 7 (2015)

Director: James Wan

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Dwayne Johnson, Kurt Russell

Furious 7No one does what the Fast & Furious franchise does better than them. From reasonably modest beginnings, and seemingly stalled after its third entry, it has become the jewel in Universal’s crown and has taken over US$3 billion worldwide. Very few franchises make it to seven films, and those that do are often on their last legs, but with Furious 7 this one just keeps getting bigger.

It is impossible to watch this film without Paul Walker’s tragic death being at the front of your mind. Walker was killed in a high speed car accident in November 2013 midway through the shooting of Furious 7 and many legitimately felt that it would be the end of the franchise. But after substantial rewrites, production recommenced, with Walker’s scenes finished using body doubles and digital trickery. And it worked. Furious 7 is not only a fun film but a fitting and heartfelt farewell to Walker, which, in a way, should not be a surprise. At its heart this series has always been about family (just in case you missed the surely hundreds of times the word family has been used across the seven films), so there is arguably no franchise better suited to handling the loss of one of its stars than this one. Continue reading →

Review – Run All Night (2015)

Director: Juame Collet-Serra

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Boyd Holbrook, Genesis Rodriguez, Common

Run All NightIn 2008, at the age of 56, Oscar nominated actor Liam Neeson’s career took a peculiar turn. Pierre Morel’s Taken introduced the world to Neeson’s “very particular set of skills,” and the success of that movie, its sequels and imitations have turned Neeson into arguably Hollywood’s most bankable action star. That all of this happened simultaneous to The Expendables franchise having tongue-in-cheek fun by bringing back a group of action heroes from decades past, most of whom happen to be roughly the same vintage as Neeson, only adds to the peculiarity. Juame Collet-Serra’s Run All Night is the latest film to take advantage of Neeson’s new tough guy persona.

Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) is a mess. Once known as Jimmy the Gravedigger, he used to be a feared hitman for mob boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris). Fifteen years down the track he is an alcoholic, estranged from his only son and gets by on charity from Shawn. One night, Jimmy’s son Michael (Joel Kinnaman) is in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnesses Shawn’s son, Danny (Boyd Holbrook), murder an Albanian heroin dealer. Continue reading →

Review – Top Five (2014)

Director: Chris Rock

Starring: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, J.B. Smoove, Cedric the Entertainer

Top FiveChris Rock is a great stand-up comedian. While many comics see stand-up as a stepping stone to television and movies – and Rock has definitely taken his fair share of average movie roles – he clearly has aspirations to be a filmmaker not just a performer. With Top Five writer-director-star Rock has his go at being Woody Allen.

Playing what he knows, Rock stars as Andre Allen, a famous stand-up comedian who became a movie star thanks to the stupid but hugely successful ‘Hammy the Bear’ trilogy in which he plays a wise-cracking, gun-toting police bear. However, in a predicament similar to Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories, Andre Allen has lost the desire to be funny. Seeking to make serious, uplifting entertainment he has invested everything in a new film overflowing with hubris, ‘Uprize,’ about the 1791 Haitian slave rebellion. It is a couple of days out from the release of the film, which everyone except Allen knows is going to be a flop, and he is doing non-stop publicity. Also on the horizon is his high profile wedding to reality TV star Erica Long (Gabriella Union), a runaway train of an event which his heart does not seem to be in. Continue reading →

Review – Inherent Vice (2014)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Katherine Waterston, Joanna Newsom, Benecio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Hong Chau, Eric Roberts, Martin Short, Jenna Malone, Michael Kenneth Williams, Maya Rudolph

Inherent ViceWhen it comes to the films of Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, The Master) I have tended to appreciate them without really enjoying them. In the case of his latest, Inherent Vice, I can confidently say that I enjoyed it without really understanding it.

Inherent Vice is an aggressively, unapologetically confusing mystery set in 1970 in the fictional California seaside town of Gordita Beach. Beach bum, stoner PI Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is approached by a former girlfriend, Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston), for help. She is currently having an affair with real estate tycoon Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts) and Wolfmann’s wife and her lover have come to her offering money for her help in getting rid of him. Doc agrees to look into it only to find it is the beginning of a web that could include a missing musician, a maritime lawyer, a society of dentists, an Indo-Chinese heroin cartel and the deputy District Attorney. Or it could include none of those things. Or it could include some of those things but not others. With nothing quite as it seems it’s a bit hard to tell. Continue reading →

Review – ’71 (2014)

Director: Yann Demange

Starring: Jack O’Connell, Corey McKinley, Sam Reid, Sean Harris, David Wilmot, Killian Scott

71The power of film lies in its ability to put you in a moment, in someone’s shoes, to make you see what they see and feel what they feel. With his impressive debut feature ’71, director Yann Demange puts us in the shoes of a young, terrified British soldier, isolated in conflict-torn Belfast.

After completing his basic training, raw recruit Gary Hook (Unbroken’s Jack O’Connell) is both relieved and disappointed to discover his first deployment is to be a peacekeeping mission in Belfast: “Not even leaving the country.” His reaction shows just how unprepared he is for what he will find there. On his first day there Hook is caught up in a violent street riot sparked by an aggressive police search in a Catholic area. He becomes separated from his colleagues after they are forced to retreat. Lost and disoriented behind enemy lines he has to find his own way back to safety. But in this particular conflict where are the lines, and who is the enemy? Continue reading →

Great Scene – Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale 3

Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) is comforted by James Bond (Daniel Craig)

The Shower Scene

During a break in the high stakes poker game at the Casino Royale, James Bond and his companion Vesper Lynd are attacked in the stairwell by a pair of African terrorists/freedom fighters, one brandishing a machete. In one of the film’s many expertly executed action scenes Bond manages to dispatch with both men after a multi-story struggle. He conceals the bodies, cleans himself up and returns to the card game. At the next break – which, if consistent with the last, is four hours later – he returns to his suite. Continue reading →

Review – The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

Director: John Madden

Starring: Maggie Smith, Dev Patel, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Richard Gere, Ronald Pickup, Tena Desae, Celia Imrie, Lilette Dubey

Second Best Exotic Marigold HotelWith its all-star cast of ageing British thespians, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was one of the surprise hits of 2012. It grossed $135 million worldwide – an astonishing figure for a film more interested in seventy-year-olds than seventeen-year-olds – by tapping the potential of the oft-ignored ‘grey-dollar.’ With none of its ensemble having ‘checked out’ how could 20th Century Fox resist a return visit with the riskily titled The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Sonny Kapoor’s idea was to outsource retirement to India, and eight months on from the events of the first film business is booming. The young entrepreneur has expansion on his mind and US retirement company, Everygreen has agreed to send an assessor to Jaipur to determine whether the Marigold Hotel is a worthwhile investment. When Guy, an American novelist claiming to be on a research trip, arrives shortly after, Sonny is adamant that he must be the assessor and sets about doing everything he can to impress him, though Guy seems to be more interested in Sonny’s mother than his hotel. In his single-mindedness, Sonny is neglecting the preparations for his upcoming wedding to the frustration of his fiancée Sunaina. Continue reading →

Best Picture Breakdown 2015

The Academy has presented us with quite an interesting eight film field for Best Picture this year. While half of the nominees are biopics – traditional Best Picture fare – we also have some rather audacious and distinctly non-traditional contenders. There is even a comedy in there! We also don’t have a cut and dry favourite, with different films having seemingly risen and faded over the last few weeks. What follows is a breakdown of the eight contenders chances and the arguments for and against for each. Continue reading →

Review – Selma (2014)

Director: Ava DuVernay

Starring: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejoga, Tom Wilkinson, Wendell Pierce, Common, Tim Roth, Stephan James, Andre Holland, Colman Domingo, Lorraine Toussaint, Oprah Winfrey

SelmaIn their opening monologue for this year’s Golden Globe Awards, hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler introduced Selma with a pointed joke: “The movie Selma is about the civil rights movement which totally worked and now everything is fine.” It was a good line. It got a big laugh. But it also perfectly captured why, in 2015, it is hard not to experience Ava DuVernay’s powerful, inspiring and triumphant film without feeling just a tinge of sadness. That sadness comes from the knowledge that half a century on from the Selma march, in a world of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Ferguson, we still have so far to go.

It may seem hard to believe, but Selma is the first time we have seen a theatrically released studio film with Martin Luther King Jr as its protagonist. But Selma is not a biopic as such. Great films will often focus on a specific story in order to illuminate a greater one. As such, DuVernay does not attempt to tell the entirety of Dr King’s story. We don’t see the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Birmingham campaign or the “I have a dream” speech. Instead, the film focuses in on the 1965 campaign by King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Continue reading →

Review – A Most Violent Year (2014)

Director: J.C. Chandor

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, Albert Brooks, David Oyelowo, Elyes Gabel

Most Violent YearA Most Violent Year is the third film from writer-director J.C. Chandor, after Margin Call and All is Lost. While he doesn’t enjoy a high profile, Chandor has built himself an impressive body of work as one of those rare beasts: a filmmaker who makes movies for grownups.

Abel Morales and his wife Anna run an up-and-coming heating oil company, but find themselves in a crisis. Someone is hijacking their trucks. Drivers are being beaten, trucks taken and dumped with their contents stolen. The loss in revenue is building and the drivers are scared to go to work. The teamsters union is demanding Abel arm his drivers, but he fears escalation. Simultaneously, after a two year investigating into corruption in the heating oil industry the District Attorney is ready to start laying charges, including 14 against Abel’s company. All of this could not be happening at a worse time, as Abel has committed to an important property deal. He has put down a 40% deposit, everything he has, on a waterfront oil holding facility which will give them direct access to the oil tankers and the potential for dramatic growth. Continue reading →