Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (August 2015)

Official Australian release date: 3/9/15. Viewed: 23/8/15.

Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Actors: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Molly Shannon

Genre: Comedy / Drama

Rating: M       

‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is a solid coming-of-age film – it’s charming and funny and definitely not as depressing as the title may have you believe. It’s a simple concept – the not-quite nerdy, not-quite cool high-schooler, Greg (Mann), is forced by his mum to hang out with a classmate who has just being diagnosed with leukaemia, Rachel (Cooke). It’s starts off as an awkward friendship, but slowly turns into genuine friendship.

Earl (Cyler) is great as Greg’s only friend (or “co-worker” as he calls him) and lots of the film’s fun comes from the parodies they make together of classic films – such as ‘Senior Citizen Cane’, ‘The Seven Seals’, ‘A Sockwork Orange’, ‘Eyes Wide Butt’ & my favourite, ‘Grumpy Cul-de-Sacs’! – most featuring clever animation and hilarious ultra-low-budget imitations. Earl acts as Greg’s conscience when he turns into a shellfish teenager and forgets about Rachel’s actual problems. The parents (Shannon, Offerman & Britton) all have some great scenes.

The film’s score, by Brian Eno, is fantastic and really adds to the emotion, especially towards the end. The finale is handled well and shows impact we can have others’ lives by just being there for them. Sure, it’s sad in parts, but it’s realistic and it is nice to watch how Greg and Rachel handle the situation mostly with good-humour. The funny moments outweigh the sad ones and make this an enjoyable film.

Overall: Realistic, sometimes poignant, and mostly-fun film

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.   

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (August 2015)

Official Australian release date: 13/8/15. Viewed: 12/8/15.

Director: Guy Ritchie

Actors: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki

Genre: Action / Adventure

Rating: M       

‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ is a 60s spy film, based on a 60s cold-war-era TV show, and it is great! While spy movies might be overdone this year (‘Mission: Impossible’ 5 just came out, ‘Spectre’ is out in three months and ‘Kingsman’ is similar), there’s always room for fun, classy, well-made films – and Ritchie’s eighth film is up there with ‘Snatch’, in my opinion. It’s certainly as good as, if not better, than the two ‘Sherlock Holmes’ films.

UNCLE stands for “United Network Command for Law and Enforcement”, although you don’t see this until the final credits – it’s just another lame acronym, a la SHIELD. The film keeps lots of it’s 60s elements – the cars, clothes, editing/split screens, the cool yellow/bold subtitles when required and the fantastic score/soundtrack. The story is simple – a KGB agent (Hammer) and a CIA agent (Cavill – Superman himself) are forced to work together with a German (Vikander) to find the bad guys who are making their own nuclear weapons. It’s funny that Cavill is British, playing an American; Hammer is American, playing a Russian; and Vikander is Swedish, playing a German.

The film doesn’t mess around, and while it goes for almost two hours, it is very well paced, with never too much downtime – there’s a car chase in the first 5min, boat chases, plenty of fight scenes and always a joke or funny quip not far away, as the American and Russian take turns to emasculate each other. The chemistry between the three leads is great and makes the film – aided by the Italian scenery – as the film draws you in expertly and has a very satisfying ending. I hope there's more!

Overall: Genuinely fun, classic spy romp.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.