The Lego Ninjago Movie (September 2017)

Official Australian release date: 21/9/17. Viewed: 24/9/17.

Directors: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, Bob Logan

Actors: Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Jackie Chan, Michael Pena  

Genre: Animation / Comedy / Adventure

Rating: PG

‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’ is the third Lego film and while still good silly fun, it’s not as good as 2014’s original ‘The Lego Movie’. It’s definitely not bad, but seems to lack a little something – possibly due to their being three directors and nine(!) writers. Not sure why a straightforward kids’ movie needs so many cooks… I should also say that I’ve never watched the TV show, so have no background, other than having played with ninja Legos as a kid! Plot’s simple – Garmadon (Theroux) keeps trying to take over their island, so a group of ninjas fight him to protect it.

The ‘twist’ is that Garmadon’s estranged son, Lloyd (Franco) is the green ninja, leader of the Secret Ninjago Force. Along with fire ninja (Pena), ice ninja (Woods), lightning ninja (Nanjiani), earth ninja (Armisen) & water ninja (Jacobson), the six of them are trained by Master Wu (Chan). The all have awesome robot-things to fight Garmadon’s army (hilarious to see the actual Lego sharks that used to come with pirate sets!), but when a ‘monster’ is let loose in the city, they have to go on a journey of self discovery to save the island.

Obviously some father–son moments, but Jackie Chan is great as the narrator and Mr Miyagi figure. As with the other two Lego films, the best bits are the adult-oriented quips that go over the kids heads – the goat bit springs to mind! The best gag is a recurring one where Garmadon refers to his son as “La-loyd” – great point, why is there two ‘L’s in Lloyd? Really poor pop soundtrack and it did drag for a bit in the middle, but a satisfactory ending, with enough colour, action and jokes to make it enjoyable.

Overall: Fun & great for kids, but not earth-shattering.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (September 2017)

Official Australian release date: 21/9/17. Viewed: 23/9/17.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Actors: Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Julianne Moore

Genre: Action / Comedy

Rating: MA

‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ is a more-than-adequate sequel to 2015’s ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’. It has as much – or possibly more – action, gun battles, explosions and spinning-camera shots. The star is, once again, Eggsy (Egerton), who’s the still humble but now more sophisticated secret agent, and his trusty sidekick, Merlin (Strong) who brings plenty of class and exposition. This time, the ‘baddie’ is Poppy (Moore), a drug kingpin who blackmails the US President to make all drugs legal so she can become legitimately rich and famous – she has fun with it & is almost as over-the-top as Samuel L Jackson was!

There’s still plenty of Bond elements – suits, jet-setting, martini’s, spy gadgets – but it’s all done 75% more hyper and with 100% more tongue-in-cheek. Forced on the run from the UK, Eggsy & Merlin seek refuge with “Statesman”, their US counterpart, where Champ (Bridges), Ginger (Berry), Whiskey (Pascal) & Tequila (Tatum) come into it. Bridges, Berry & Tatum barely have five scenes between them, but Pascal is good and Harry (Firth) is reintroduced here (through very dubious means!) Elton John has more scenes and is hilarious – an excellent cameo choice, and a fight set to ‘Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting’ is superb. Tilde (Alstrom) is back as the girlfriend and gets a few good moments.

There’s plenty of humour and jokes throughout, and I found myself smiling more often than not. It’s probably a bit longer than necessary (140min) and has some slow points – and lots of dumb/unbelievable scenarios – but that’s half the fun! The action and comedy are balanced well again – still in for the third film!

Overall: Another enjoyable spy romp.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

It (September 2017)

Official Australian release date: 7/9/17. Viewed: 10/9/17.

Director: Andy Muschietti

Actors: Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Bill Skarsgard

Genre: Horror / Drama

Rating: MA

‘It’ is the “killer clown” horror film, based on Stephen King’s novel. It’s set in Derry, Maine in 1989, and kids keep going missing – including Bill (Lieberher)’s brother, Georgie (Scott). Bill and his “loser” friends – Richie (Wolfhand), Eddie (Grazer), Stanley (Oleff), Mike (Jacobs) & Ben (Taylor) – go searching for Georgie in their summer break, thinking he might be in the sewers. Of course, we’re introduced to Pennywise the clown (Skarsgard) before the titles, so we know what happened to Georgie.

If you don’t like clowns – this films not going to cure that! However, I didn’t find it really frightening, with some jumps (mostly thanks to the score), but not too much that it truly horrific or ultra-creepy. Sure, there’s some blood, some teeth, plenty of shadows and things popping up, but it never really felt to me like the kids were in too much danger. What is excellently conveyed is the apathy and “off”-ness of the adults, meaning it’s all up to Bill & the gang to figure out.

Ben figures out the “every 27 years” connection and Beth (Lillis) gets involved, after they’ve each encountered their worst fears and Pennywise. The film’s a great ode to friendship and sticking together – I just feel like it’s done better in ‘Stranger Things’, which is why it’s a shame Wolfhand is in both. This film is probably a bit longer than necessary, but has a good late-80s soundtrack and is better than the 1990 version. I’d say watch it – so long as you’re over 13…

Overall: Above-average horror/thriller.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Wind River (September 2017)

fficial Australian release date: 10/8/17. Viewed: 9/9/17.

Director: Taylor Sheridan

Actors: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Graham Greene, Kelsey Asbille

Genre: Mystery / Drama

Rating: MA

‘Wind River’ is from the writer of ‘Sicario’ & ‘Hell or High Water’, but is only Sheridan’s second directorial effort, which makes it all the more impressive. It’s a really simple plot – a Native American teenager is found dead, by Lambert (Renner) in the Wind River reservation and Banner (Olsen) is the FBI agent assigned to solve the case. Lambert is a tracker and hunter ad knows the terrain, so helps local cop Ben (Greene) and Banner in the snowy mountains.

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis bring their sparse, ‘Skeleton Tree’-like sounds to the score and soundtrack, and it definitely helps set the mood and highlight the sparseness of the northern Winter (or Spring, technically). The film moves along quite rapidly, with the investigation never boring, but still time to build plenty of backstory for Lambert and the reservation.

The final 20min or so is handled really well, with a few surprises thrown in. Similar to the Australian-set ‘Goldstone’ in some ways. It all looks beautiful (odd that it was filmed in Utah, not in the real-life reservation in Wyoming), with plenty of nice scenic and animal shots, but also plenty of sadness. Renner and Olsen carry the film with nuanced performances, and there’s thankfully no romantic distractions. It’s just a great, straightforward crime-solving scenario, done right.

Overall: Really well-made murder mystery.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard (September 2017)

Official Australian release date: 31/8/17. Viewed: 2/9/17.

Director: Patrick Hughes

Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, Gary Oldman, Elodie Yung

Genre: Action / Comedy

Rating: MA

‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ has been marketed as a parody of Costner/Houston’s ‘The Bodyguard’ from 25 years ago – but having never seen that, I can’t compare. It is a pretty straightforward action/comedy, probably more like ‘RED’. Plot is very simple – a Belarusian dictator (Oldman) is being tried at The Hague and Interpol need evidence from a hitman he tried to hire, Kincaid (Jackson). Thanks to Agent Roussel (Yung), Bryce (Reynolds) is assigned with getting him safely from England to Holland.

There’s a bit of unnecessary backstory about Bryce’s bodyguard business, and some serious moment with him & Roussel, but the film’s at its best when it’s just Reynolds & Jackson on screen, bantering back and forth with at each other. Sure, there’s plenty of gunfights, explosions, some Bourne-like stunts and actually a surprisingly high body count, but you never feel like much is at stake and wish they’d focused more on the humour than the action.

It’s clear Jackson is having a ball and it’s great to see him laugh genuinely. Reynolds is serviceable, but plays the straight guy, and it’s always fun to watch Oldman as the villain. Great cameo from Hayek too. This might almost set the record for the most Jackson “mother-f***er”s uttered in a film too! Nothing new, no truly hilarious moments, but fun enough.

Overall: Passable shoot-em-up comedy.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.