Hail, Caesar! (February 2016)

Official Australian release date: 25/2/16. Viewed: 27/2/16.

Director: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

Actors: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Channing Tatum

Genre: Comedy

Rating: PG     

The premise for ‘Hail, Caesar!’ sounds more “meta” than it is – a film studio in the 1950’s making a Roman/Jesus epic called ‘Hail Caesar’ and starring Whitlock (Clooney), the biggest Hollywood star. The film works as a tribute to classic movie-making, with Brolin playing Mannix, the head of “Capitol Studios”, trying to keep his sometime wayward stars in check.

The film nails the choreography and massive scale the soundstages had, especially with Johansson’s mermaid scene and Tatum’s tap-dancing sailor scene. Surprise – he can also sing! Probably the funniest moment is new guy Doyle (Ehrenreich)’s cowboy scene and stunts. Unfortunately, there’s no real plot other than Clooney getting kidnapped by kind Communists – doesn’t really go anywhere.

Fiennes, Johansson, Hill, Tatum & McDormand all don’t have enough screen time. The score is good and there’s some jokes, although most of them are more like a sly wink to the audience – definitely not the Coen’s best work! The score’s good and Clooney and Tatum both ham it up, but I definitely felt underwhelmed afterwards.

Overall: OK – just not too much substance.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars. 

Deadpool (February 2016)

Official Australian release date: 11/2/16. Viewed: 11/2/16.

Director: Tim Miller

Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller

Genre: Comedy / Action

Rating: MA     

‘Deadpool’ is this year’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ – a non-mainstream Marvel film with offbeat humour that’s really well made. And the soundtrack’s good, but not as excellent as the aforementioned film. Deadpool’s story is a simple one, really – mostly because it’s pretty much identical to Wolverine’s origin story: ex-soldier thinks he’s not a hero, even though he helps others, gets experimented on and turned into a freak, tries to win back his loved one. That being said – this is much better than ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, and even ‘The Wolverine’. Still, there’s a few throwbacks to the former, which featured Reynolds as a non-masked Deadpool, and a few nice winks to Hugh Jackman.

The film starts excellently, with a fantastic super slow-motion shot, and has the funniest titles sequence I think I’ve ever seen. The film then does a good job of flashing back to fill us in on how Wade Wilson (Reynolds) became Deadpool – helped by some appropriate fourth-wall breaking. We’re introduced to Vanessa (Baccarin – who looks a lot like Famke Janssen [Jean] from the original ‘X-Men’), the love of his life, and Weasel (Miller) his best friend. They both play good supporting parts, particularly some of Miller’s lines which are dryly hilarious. It’s also good to see Marvel try to take back some of their X-Men characters from Fox (which is acknowledged with tongue in cheek), with Colossus (Kapicic) being portrayed excellently – a naive Russian with a pure heart, trying to get Deadpool to join the X-Men. He’s helped by the new character, Negasonic (Hildebrand) – and the taxi-driver (Soni) in two great scenes.

The bad guys, Francis (Skrein) & Angel (Carano), are adequate and move the plot along. The ending’s good and I hope they make more, because the fight scenes are done excellently, the humour and jokes are 100% adult-only and totally fitting. Reynolds nails it as the ‘Merc with a mouth’, with great timing and nuance from under his mask, and he does a great job of not being the pretty-boy when needed. This film makes me hope they get around to doing a Gambit film at some stage – and I’m now interested to see how ‘Doctor Strange’ turns out later in the year…

Overall: Fun, bloody and funny – could be the Marvel film of the year!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars. 

Zoolander 2 (February 2016)

Official Australian release date: 11/2/16. Viewed: 7/2/16.

Director: Ben Stiller

Actors: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penelope Cruz

Genre: Comedy

Rating: M     

‘Zoolander 2’ is the long (15 years!) anticipated sequel to the endlessly quotable original fashion satire. Derek (Stiller) has become a “hermit crab” recluse after a quickly-explained tragedy occurred in 2001. Likewise, Hansel (Wilson) is living a nomadic life with his 11-person harem-esque “orgy”. There’s plenty of sight gags & cameos right from the start. The film opens with a Bond-style car/foot chase through Rome, with the joke being that it’s Justin Bieber and there’s a criminal organisation going around killing pop stars. He’s a good sport, getting shot by literally 100’s of bullets! This brings Derek & Hansel to Rome to come out of their hibernation.

Valentina (Cruz) from Interpol steps in to protect them/find Derek’s long-lost son, Derek Jr (Arnold). She looks fantastic (@ 41) in her red leather suit and later in her swimsuit, lamenting her “annoying, plus-size naturals” that kept her from being a ‘proper’ model! After appearing in Alexanya Atoz (Wiig – looking likely what Miley Cyrus will look like in 15 years!) and Don Atari (Mooney – super annoying)’s fashion show and getting ridiculed, they uncover that Mugatu (Ferrell) is behind everything from his prison cell. It then turns into a bit of a Bond film, with a lava pit involved!

If you’re watching this hoping for some cerebral comedy, you’re in the wrong place. There’s heaps of dumb jokes (most involving mispronunciation), dozens of cameos (Zane, Sutherland, Cumerbatch, Armisen, Sarandon, Sting, Perry, Nelson, Moss, deGrasse Tyson) and plenty of Blue Steel/Magnum’s from everyone – but it is, at heart, a comedy lambasting the superficiality and stupidness of modelling and fashion. Definitely not as good as the original, but whenever Stiller, Wilson & Ferrell are on screen together, there’s going to be laughs. It’s really well-paced – never gets boring – and has consistent chuckles, with a few great moments.

Overall: Silly, easy fun.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.