Gladiator II

Official Australian release date: 14/11/24. Viewed: 14/11/24.
Director: Ridley Scott
Actors: Paul Mescal, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal
Genre: Action / Drama
Rating: M

‘Gladiator II’ (or ‘GLADIIATOR’ as the titles would have it!), is Ridley Scott diving back into more comfortable territory, after the underwhelming ‘House of Gucci’ and ‘Napoleon’. It’s helped by 24 years having passed since ‘Gladiator’, so some of the call-backs/fill-ins Scott gives us we assume are correct. We start with Lucius (Mescal) in Numidia (Morocco), with the Romans led by General Acacius (Pascal) attacking his city. He inevitably has tragedy befall him and is captured and taken to Rome.

There we get reacquainted to Lucilla (Nielsen), daughter of Marcus Aurelius, and now married to Acacius. There we’re shown how Lucius fits into the political scheming’s of Rome, where his new master, Macrinus (Washington) is also plotting away. The film does a good job of having some flashbacks/call-outs to Maximums Decimus Meridius, but only uses old footage of Crowe. Mescal is good as the stoic gladiator fighting for an honourable Rome, and Washington revels in his shifty role. The brother emperors Geta (Quinn) and Caracalla (Hechinger) are both suitably despicable.

Maybe a little long at 2 hours 20min, but it packs in plenty of battles, gladiator duels, violence/blood, political intrigue and hope. Does well not to get bogged down in nostalgia and tell a semi-independent story. Nothing terribly new in terms of Ancient Roman epics, but a well-put-together film.

Overall: Doesn’t tarnish the original

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

Memoir of a Snail

Official Australian release date: 17/10/24. Viewed: 10/11/24.
Director: Adam Elliot
Actors: Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jacki Weaver, Tony Armstrong
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Rating: M

‘Memoir of a Snail’ is Adam Elliot’s second full-length stop-motion-animation film (15 years after the excellent ‘Mary & Max’), and is another thoughtful, often-sad, sometimes funny, look at the life of a young girl, but this time they’re twins – Grace (Snook) and Gilbert (Smit-McPhee). They suffer some tragedies and are forced to grow up in separate houses in Canberra and Perth.

Grace’s backstory and her obsession with snails is done well, taking up most of the film, and while there’s lots of depressing moments – and some odd/adult ones! – there’s plenty of heart and silver-linings/hope that drives the story. Part of this is quirk Pinky (Weaver) and how she plays into the happy ending. I assume chunks of this film are inspired by Elliot’s real life…

Great voice cast, with Eric Bana, Tony Armstrong, Magda Szubanski and Nick Cave too. The use of colour and texture of the Claymation is superb, with the detail exceptional, especially in the title scene. It’s always fun and quirky to look at, with multiple things happening on the screen in every shot. Only 95min, but a near-lifetime is packed in, with plenty of touching moments.

Overall: Another strong family-focused adult animation

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

Here

Official Australian release date: 31/10/24. Viewed: 1/11/24.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Actors: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly
Genre: Drama
Rating: M

‘Here’ is the fifth film directed by Robert Zemeckis starring Tom Hanks, and while not a 2.5-hour epic spanning 3 decades like ‘Forrest Gump’, it does somehow manage to span 65 million years. This is done via the film’s gimmick of the camera sitting in the one spot, focusing on the living room of a house built in the early 19^th century (presumably in New Jersey, USA), which includes some flashbacks of what was there on that spot of land before the house was built, including a Native American tribe.

We then follow ~5 families at various times and their life in the living room. It’s not all linear, but isn’t too confusing, with the main storyline following Al (Bettany) and Rose (Reilly) buying the house after WWII. There they raise their 4 kids, with Richard (Hanks) played by a de-aged/‘Big’-era Hanks from ~16. He then meets de-aged Margaret (Wright), and we follow them as they age in the house over the decades. There’s some nice moments, some funny bits and some sad scenes.

Even though it’s a relatively short film, it probably didn’t need at least 2 of these storylines! The editing is sometimes good, but often unnecessarily annoying. It’s trying to portray the small moments of life that add up to create the human experience. It gets close, but due to the jumping around, you don’t grow too attached to anyone, so the poignancy is lost. Almost a bottle episode!

Overall: Good tribute to set design!

Gav's Rating: 3 stars

Venom: The Last Dance

Official Australian release date: 24/10/24. Viewed: 26/10/24.
Director: Kelly Marcel
Actors: Tom Hardy, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

‘Venom: The Last Dance’, or Venom 3, is potentially the final film in the Venom series – but I wouldn’t be surprised if they finally get him in the MCU with Spider-Man one day. This is a pretty good finale and fits with the tone of the first film, with some action, some violence and some solid jokes. Eddie/Venom (Hardy) is on the run in Mexico, but now being hunted by a weird giant-scorpion-alien (“xennophage”) from his home world, as well as running from the Army – Dr Paine (Temple, odd hearing her trying to do an American accent!) & General Strickland (Ejiofor, not the same as his character from Dr Strange).

The little side-plot with Martin (Ifans, also different to his Dr Connors character) and his family is nice. Not much of the plot is that important, other than it sets up the final battle and the required sacrifice. Nice that they got Mrs Chen in for a cameo, to give Venom a literal last dance. Hardy is good again, with his stiff-legged walk due to Venom being merged with him.

While this doesn’t have the felling of seriousness or importance that some MCU films does, for one of the Sony films, it’s pretty fun and enjoyable. There were quite a few chuckles from me, and the CGI and action are well done. It’s all over in ~100min and has a satisfying conclusion. Not sure if he’ll be back, but always happy to see more of Hardy as Venom.

Overall: Pretty fun final ride

Gav's Rating: 3 stars

Speak No Evil

Official Australian release date: 12/9/24. Viewed: 1/10/24.
Director: James Watkins
Actors: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi
Genre: Horror / Thriller

Rating: MA

‘Speak No Evil’ is a very engrossing thriller, with a nice slow build as we get to know the American family: Ben (McNairy), Louise (Davis) and their daughter Agnes (Lefler); and the British family: Paddy (McAvoy), Ciara (Franciosi) and their son Ant (Hough); who meet on holiday in Italy and the Americans visit the Brits at their home in Devon. There’s little comments and actions that Paddy, Ciara & Ant make from time-to-time that are odd, foreshadowing what’s to come.

Both kids are very good and having effectively only 6 characters makes it easy to follow along. McAvoy is great as usual, with some of his ‘Split’/‘Glass’ physique and subtle menace present. Everyone has a part to play, and while not a lot happens in the first hour, it’s not boring either. But the final act/final 40min or so is pretty hectic!

There’s some chuckles, some “what are you doing?” moments, not a heap of typical “horror”, but lots of tension and plenty of uncomfortable moments. Some nice scenery, good score and satisfying ending. Not an all-time-classic, but enjoyable.

Overall: Heed the red flags!

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

 

Megalopolis

 Official Australian release date: 26/9/24. Viewed: 28/9/24.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Actors: Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza
Genre: Drama / Sci-Fi
Rating: M

‘Megalopolis’ is from Francis Ford Coppola (now 85), the director of ‘Apocalypse Now’ and ‘The Godfather’, where he tries to craft this epic mixture of Roman politics and near-future New York. The film mostly follows Cesar (Driver) & rival Cicero (Esposito). Besides the names, the only slightly Ancient Rome thing about the film is that there’s some inter-family politics – Cicero’s daughter Julia (Emmanuel) falls in love with Cesar and Cesar’s ex, Wow (Plaza) marries his uncle, Crassus (Voight).

The cast is stacked – as well as the main five above, there’s Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Fishburne, Shia LeBeouf & Jason Schwartzman. While all are OK, no-one shines and some of the dialogue is a bit wooden. I sometimes got the impression this should’ve been a play, not a film. I think the main issue is that Coppola’s had this in his mind for 45 years and clearly hasn’t refined or updated anything, so there’s about 5 different, mostly-unrelated, storylines trying to be crammed in.

While 2 hours 15min isn’t crazy-long, it still feels like a slog at times. Sometimes it’s closer to ‘The Fountain’, but the editing (split screen is annoying and there’s way too many cuts) mean no characters get a chance to stand out or cement themselves and the ending doesn’t reward. Driver tries, but it feels like half the film has been cut, so you’re not quite sure what’s happening. The whole Madison Square Garden part seems so unnecessary. Not terrible, but very messy.

Overall: Confused architect needs less time  

Gav's Rating: 2 stars

Transformers One

Official Australian release date: 19/9/24. Viewed: 23/9/24.
Director: Josh Cooley
Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key
Genre: Animation / Action
Rating: PG

‘Transformers One’ is a prequel to all the Transformers cartoons and films, and is a great return to form, partly because I think it works better when there’re no pesky humans to worry about, just space robots! This is from Cooley, the writer of ‘Inside Out’ and director of ‘Toy Story 4’, so he knows how to balance comedy and heart. It’s nice to have a fresh slate with Orion Pax/young Optimus (Hemsworth) and D-16/young Megatron (Tyree Henry, who are just miners trying to find their way in Cybertron.

Strong voice cast with Elita (Johansson), B-127/young Bumblebee (Key), Alpha Trion (Fishburne), Starscream (Buscemi – great origin story for his voice) and Sentinel Prime (Hamm), plus many other familiar faces of future Autobots and Decepticons. The plot is clear for younger kids – all the “Primes” (leaders) were killed in a war decades ago and the leadership matrix thing was lost, so Orion, D, B & Elita set out to find it and uncover a huge conspiracy. They set out to fix it while discovering their new abilities.

Crazy to think it’s been 38 years since the first film and 40 years since the cartoon first started. It does well to give each of the main characters time to shine, and does a good of showing Orion & D-16’s friendship and how/why it evolves. Also important to note there’s some great action sequences, a fitting finale and lots of chuckles/funny moments. Should suit older audiences (i.e. me) and new ones: “9.9 out of 10” from the nephew!

Overall: Fun, fast prequel to our favourite robots

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars