War for the Planet of the Apes (July 2017)

Official Australian release date: 27/7/17. Viewed: 30/7/17.

Director: Matt Reeves

Actors: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Karin Konoval, Terry Notary

Genre: Action / Drama

Rating: M

‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ is the eighth film in the franchise and does a great job of concluding the ‘Rise’/‘Dawn’/‘War’ trilogy of prequels, as well as linking this back to the original 1968 ‘Planet of the Apes’, via Caesar’s son being called Cornelius. Like ‘Dawn’, humans are almost secondary characters here, and when they are shown, they definitely make you back the apes, who have more humanity and compassion than the surviving humans.

The CGI is now so believable, it’s almost impossible to discern if there’s any real apes in among the CGI ones! Caesar (Serkis) is so realistic in close-ups, you’re basically looking at Serkis. He’s great, and it’s nice to see the added (digital) touch of grey to his coat. Caesar still has his three trusted right-hand apes with him, Maurice (Konoval), Rocket (Notary) and Luca (Adamthwaite). After the humans that have not been wiped out by the Simian flu, led by the Colonel (Harrelson), decide to attack the apes in the Californian forest, Caesar has to fight back to save all of ape-kind.

There’s a nice subplot with Nova (Miller), a young girl they protect, but the overall thrust is that the humans still think they’re better than the evolved apes and treat them like slaves. There’s a massive battle at the end and plenty of great action throughout. The overall pace is good, with it feeling a lot faster than 2 & ¼ hours. The addition of Bad Ape (Zahn) as some comedic relief is a masterstroke, but the film is so meaningful thanks to Caesar’s love for his kin and his determination for them to survive.

Overall: Very fitting finale to an underappreciated trilogy.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

A Monster Calls (July 2017)

Official Australian release date: 27/7/17. Viewed: 24/7/17.

Director: J.A. Bayona

Actors: Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Liam Neeson

Genre: Drama / Fantasy

Rating: PG

‘A Monster Calls’ has almost nothing to do with a monster – at it’s heart, it’s a straightforward story about a 12-year-old boy dealing with grief, with help from an imaginary friend. It’s from Bayona, the director of ‘The Impossible’ (another very good survival drama), so it will be interesting to see what he does with ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’. The film centers around Conor (MacDougall), a quiet kid who loves to draw, who has a sick Mum (Jones) and a stern Grandma (Weaver). At 12:07am each night, he has a dream/nightmare where he hears a tree-monster calling him.

Filmed in Manchester, there’s plenty of rain and opportunities for spooky shadows and scares, but the beauty is in the benevolent twist taken on the Groot-like “monster” (Neeson), who is obviously Conor’s way of dealing with his mum’s cancer. The watercolour animations set to Neeson’s storytelling is excellently done, with some nice morals thrown in to the “dreams” Conor has when the “monster” is present.

It never gets too fantastic or unrealistic, with MacDougall successfully carrying a great load for such a young actor. He’s helped expertly by Jones & Weaver, who have very significant, but relatively small, roles. It’s not sad the entire film, but it really hits home for the final 15min and did not leave a dry eye in the cinema.

Overall: Very strong, and beautiful, portrayal of grief.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Dunkirk (July 2017)

Official Australian release date: 20/7/17. Viewed: 21/7/17.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Actors: Fionn Whitehead, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Jack Lowden

Genre: War / Action

Rating: M

‘Dunkirk’ is Nolan’s first war film and as such, it’s not typical or predictable. There’s no real introduction to the characters – we’re suddenly in the middle of 400,000 Allied troops being evacuated from France back to England in the middle or World War II. It’s filmed from three perspectives (which works quite well): the land, where Tommy (Whitehead) is trying to get off the beach and Bolton (Branagh) is trying to organize the retreat; the ocean, where Dawson (Rylance) & his son Peter are on a small boat; and the air, where Farrier (Hardy) & Collins (Lowden) are trying to stop the German bombers.

The first thing you notice is the score – by Hans Zimmer – as each of the different viewpoints has it’s own motif, but they are all very persistent and add to the tension and desperation of the soldiers to escape. It’s interesting that you never actually see any German soldiers and “Nazis” are never mentioned, just “the enemy”. There’s no real main character – perhaps Whitehead, as a young, out-of-place infantryman – but they all seem realistic and suitably distraught, just trying their best to survive and make it home. The definition of “lose the battle, but win the war”.

It’s nice to see all the British civilian boats arrive across the English Channel (which looks great in most shots, obviously filmed on a rare sunny day!), with Rylance as the moral compass, and there’s plenty of drama on the beach, but the plane battles are probably the highlight, having you on the edge of your seat, leaning with the pilots. It’s short – 105min, so not an “epic” – and won’t be remembered as the new ‘Saving Private Ryan’, but it’s just as good as last year’s ‘Hacksaw Ridge’.

Overall: Innovative take on the war film.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

It Comes At Night (July 2017)

Official Australian release date: 6/7/17. Viewed: 9/7/17.

Director: Trey Shults

Actors: Joel Edgerton, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo

Genre: Mystery / Horror

Rating: MA

‘It Comes At Night’ is technically a horror film, but there’s no standard horror stereotypes to be found, other than a good use of darkness and lights/lanterns. It’s definitely more of a mystery/psychological thriller, with a hint of ‘Outbreak’/‘Contagion’ thrown in. It’s nice that instead of following the pandemic, you don’t know what it is, what caused it or what’s happening around the world – the film stays with just the one family: Paul (Edgerton), Sarah (Ejogo) & their son, Travis (Harrison Jr.) in their house in up-state New York.

When another family – Will (Abbott) & Kim (Keough) – form a truce with Paul, they all seem to be making the best of life in the post-apocalyptic world. However, things aren’t always that simple and there’s plenty of moments where you question some decisions, but wonder if you would act any different in the same situation?

There’s a great score, building tension and action when needed, and great use of light, especially in the forest. No spoilers here, but this is certainly not your typical thriller/drama, with a pretty unexpected ending. While there’re not a heap of scares, there’s plenty of pressure built up and some interesting twists. All five of the actors are great, with Harrison Jr. being particularly good as the teenage son trying to cope with the new world.

Overall: Well-made, unique, human thriller.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 2017)

Official Australian release date: 6/7/17. Viewed: 7/7/17.

Director: Jon Watts

Actors: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Jon Favreau

Genre: Action / Adventure

Rating: M

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (or Spider-Man 6, technically) is Sony and Marvel finally playing nice and bringing Marvel’s most popular comic book character into the MCU – will be interesting to see how he’s involved in the upcoming Infinity War. A lot of people will ask “do we need another Spider-Man film?” The answer is, clearly “yes”! This is just as good as each of the other first Spider-Man films, and is different in that it’s not an “origin story” – there’s no Uncle Ben – and we’ve already seen Peter Parker (Holland) with his powers in ‘Captain America: Civil War’, so the film starts with a lot of momentum, where Peter’s trying to impress Iron Man (Downey Jr.). Also, excellent use of the Ramones!

This is the most age-appropriate Spider-Man so far – Tobey Maguire was 26 when ‘Spider-Man’ came out in 2002, Andrew Garfield was 29 when ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ came out in 2012 and Tom Holland has just turned 21 – which lends a fair bit of authenticity to Peter being a high school kid with teenage problems. There is an actual homecoming dance, so plenty of teenage awkwardness, but it’s all very watchable, due to Holland’s charm and enthusiasm. He’s helped by his best friend Ned (Batalon), who gets a lot of great lines and there’s other comedic relief from the coach (Buress), the debate team teacher (Starr) and, surprisingly, the PSA’s from Captain America (Evans)! The plot is all about stopping the Vulture (Keaton), who’s constantly stealing alien technology left over from Avengers battles. His wing-suit is pretty great to watch and he makes for a suitable villain.

The film differs a bit from the comics, with no (thankfully, at this stage!) Norman or Harry Osborn, Mary-Jane Watson, or Gwen Stacy. However, there is Flash Thompson (Revolori) and Aunt May (Tomei), as well as Tony Stark, Pepper Potts (Paltrow) and Happy Hogan (Favreau) – and a multitude of references to other MCU happenings – to link it all together. Peter’s suit was cool, but probably a bit too Iron Man-ish for my liking. Still, it’s great to see Spider-Man still learning his powers (especially trying to web-sling through suburban backyards with no skyscrapers) and there’s plenty of great action scenes. It’s not quite the best of the Spider-Man films – a little long and sometimes a bit listless – but it has a satisfying ending and a lead actor who I hope to see play Spider-Man for quite a few films to come.

Overall: Worthwhile reboot – fun, exciting and different enough.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Baby Driver (July 2017)

Official Australian release date: 13/7/17. Viewed: 5/7/17.

Director: Edgar Wright

Actors: Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm

Genre: Action

Rating: MA

Edgar Wright’s first film that hasn’t been styled as a comedy (and his first since ‘The World’s End’), ‘Baby Driver’ is a fast-paced crime caper, with plenty of car chases, action, gun fights and a great soundtrack. There’s almost no score – basically every scene is set to a song, starting with the first robbery (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), “Tequila”, T. Rex, The Damned, “Easy” and Baby (Elgort)’s own mixes. Music is so important to him, as he has tinnitus and uses an iPod to drown it out – and help him focus on his getaway driving.

Baby is helping criminals get away with robberies to pay back crime boss Doc (Spacey – always good), and the first crew is Buddy (Hamm – great as the criminal with an almost-conscience), Darling (Gonzalez – mostly just eye candy) and Griff (Bernthal – gruff). Then he falls in love with Debora (James – cute), a waiter at an Atlanta diner and needs to extricate himself from this shady world. This is made harder when Bats (Foxx – crazy) gets involved and doesn’t like Baby always wearing earplugs.

The car chases are filmed/edited magnificently, with the music adding urgency and tone where needed. Nowhere is this more evident than the final scene, with Queen’s “Brighton Rock” (one of their less famous songs) seamlessly complementing the visual. The stakes are high for the final 30min and the ending is appropriate and not corny. There’s plenty of style, but also substance, here.

Overall: Excellent heist/action film.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.