The Matrix Resurrections

Official Australian release date: 26/12/21. Viewed: 27/12/21.
Director: Lana Wachowski
Actors: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Ann Moss, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

 

‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is a semi-reboot, coming 18 years after the trilogy was completed. We don’t start with Neo (Reeves), but rather Bugs (Henwick), a Trinity-like character and a refreshed-Morpheus (Abdul-Mateen), as they search for Neo in the Matrix. Turns out Neo & Trinity (Moss) are both alive inside the Matrix, but in new simulations, where they don’t know each other or their past lives and Mr Anderson just so happens to have created a video game called “The Matrix”. It gets a bit meta in parts.

The film takes quite a while to establish Neo’s new normal, with the therapist/Analyst (Patrick-Harris) and Smith (Groff) as his business partner, as well as the new real humans – Bugs and the others that don’t really get much screen time. Niobe (Pinkett Smith) is back as one of the survivors of Zion. Once Neo is rescued, it becomes an attempt to free Trinity too. Not really too much to the plot otherwise, for good or bad. Henwick, Groff and Patrick-Harris are good, while Moss feels like a secondary character.

One of the main issues is that the CGI on the original trilogy was so groundbreaking, that it now seems run-of-the-mill. There’s not much new here in terms of CGI or action scenes, especially after what happened in ‘Revolutions’ (probably worth a re-watch to those that write it off). Sticks to the core tenet of Neo & trinity’s love being able to disrupt the Matrix, but doesn’t add too much to the overall Matrix mythology. Definitely not a bad film, just not exceptional. I assume there will be more films...

Overall: Nice nostalgia trip, without being revolutionary.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Official Australian release date: 16/12/21. Viewed: 19/12/21.
Director: Jon Watts
Actors: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon
Genre: Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Rating: M

 

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ is the final piece of the MCU/Sony trilogy, all in under five years. It’s also Holland’s 6^th time playing Peter Parker and essentially serves as ‘Doctor Strange’ 1.5, bridging to ‘Multiverse of Madness’ next year. This film picks up right where ‘Farm From Home’ left off, with the world now knowing Peter is Spider-Man, which make things very difficult for him, MJ (Zendaya), Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), Ned (Batalon) and Happy (Favreau).

Peter goes to Dr Strange (Cumberbatch) for some magical help, which triggers a multiverse “issue”, with – I don’t think this is a spoiler after all the trailers & press – villains from the pre-MCU Spider-Man films being pulled into the MCU. This includes Dr Octopus (Molina), Green Goblin (Dafoe), Electro (Foxx), Sandman (Haden Church) and Lizard (Ifans) all trying to figure out why this Spider-Man is different. It borrows a bit from ‘Into the Spider-Verse’, which is a good thing, as that film is superb. Along with them, the big reveal is that the multiverse Peter Parker’s – Toby Maguire (now 46) and Andrew Garfield (now 38) – are also pulled into this world. This provides both some funny and insightful moments.

Peter’s close to losing control a few times here, and the final act does a good job of raising the stakes and helping him realise his role, his morality and mortality. There’s quite a few touching moments, and with all MCU films, the ensemble works well here – it’s great watching Peter, MJ and Ned together, and it’s not too corny having the other two Spider-Men involved. Dafoe reminds us of what a good actor he is. All the throw-back villains and Maguire/Garfield could’ve made this seem like a lame cash-grab, but it really works. I had great time and enjoyed the simultaneous happy and sad ending.

Overall: Excellently-executed Spider-Man story.

Gav's Rating: 4.5 stars.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Official Australian release date: 1/1/22. Viewed: 12/12/21.
Director: Jason Reitman
Actors: Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon
Genre: Sci-Fi / Comedy
Rating: PG

‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ is the 4^th Ghostbusters film and while OK in parts, is probably on par with the most recent film. It takes about an hour to set-up Callie (Coon) bringing her two teenage kids – Phoebe (Grace) & Trevor (Wolfhard) – to Oklahoma, because they inherit their estranged grandad’s farm. Turns out he was Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis’ character in the two original films). We also meet Phoebe’s teacher, Grooberson (Rudd) who helps out.

The next-gen of ghostbusters is set-up with Podcast (Kim) befriending Phoebe and Trevor befriending Lucky (O’Connor). Together, the four of them set out to find what’s causing the earthquakes using some of the stuff they find in Spengler’s basement. There’s plenty of throwbacks with the plasma-guns, car and other equipment.

The third act picks up pace, and there’s some funny moments, but unfortunately it’s probably at it’s best when it’s a teen mystery/adventure, before it all becomes a little too familiar and predictable at the end. Grace is good, but it needed more Rudd and no-one else has that much to do.

Overall: Passable reboot.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Encanto

Official Australian release date: 2/12/21. Viewed: 12/12/21.
Directors: Jared Bush, Byron Howard & Charise Castro Smith  
Actors: Stephanie Beatriz, Jessica Darrow, Diane Guerrero, John Leguizamo
Genre: Animated / Family
Rating: PG

 

‘Encanto’ is a Disney (not Disney-Pixar) animated story from the directors of ‘Zooptopia’, this time about a Colombian family (the Madrigals) who have inherited a miracle/enchanted candle and house that gives them all some sort of gift/power – except Mirabel (Beatriz – “Rosa” from Brooklyn Nine-Nine). Therein lies her trying to fit in with her sisters – “strong” Luisa (Darrow) and “perfect” Isabela (Guerrero), as well as her aunts, uncles, parents, cousins and grandma/abuela (Botero), who all live in the reverse-haunted-house.

Apparently all the songs are written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, there’s only 5 or so of them and most are not memorable. There’s a bit of a mystery surrounding what happened to Mirabel’s uncle Bruno (Leguizamo, interesting hearing him not as Sid!), which Mirabel sets out to solve. There’s some action sequences and a few trippy bits during some of the songs, but nothing scary for kids.

Great animation and colours/lighting throughout, and not too long. The resolution of Mirabel not needing powers to love/help her family and her abuela realising her mistakes with Mirabel and Bruno are quite touching and seem realistic. Certainly a good moral – you don’t need to be “special” to help/love/be nice to others.

Overall: Good family story.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Last Night in Soho

Official Australian release date: 18/11/21. Viewed: 4/12/21.
Director: Edgar Wright
Actors: Thomasin McKenzie, Anna Taylor-Joy, Michael Ajao, Diana Rigg
Genre: Drama / Mystery
Rating: MA

 

‘Last Night in Soho’ is a blend of coming-of-age story, love letter to London and nostalgic reminiscence of the 1960s, with a nice murder-mystery thrown in for measure! I’ll see anything Edgar Wright makes, with this not being a comedy set in a specific genre, but closer to ‘Baby Driver’ in it’s focus. Ellie (McKenzie) gets into fashion design school in London and her obsession with the 60s (both fashion and music) sets her off on an unexpected journey of both self-discovery and some visions of Sandie (Talyor-Joy) in 60s Soho.

The cast is well-rounded, with John (Ajao) as the friend, Ms Collins (Rigg) as the landlady, Jack (Smith) personifying the 60s, Jocasta (Karlsen) as the frenemy and Terence Stamp as the old storyteller. After a normal set-up, a trippy second act with an exceptional soundtrack (Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, Cilla Black). You think you know where the finale is heading, but then there’s a few great twists at the end.

I wouldn’t say it turns into horror, but there’s certainly some semi-shocking moments and definitely a nice surprise with where the film ends up. Great performances from both McKenzie & Taylor-Joy, and nice to see Diana Rigg one last time.

Overall: Enjoyable London dream/nightmare mystery.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Dune

Official Australian release date: 2/12/21. Viewed: 3/12/21.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Actors: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Zendaya
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

 

‘Dune’ (or Dune: Part One) is the best attempt so far at translating the books into film, from my recollections of the 1984 & 2000 versions. The first act lays out the landscape and epic scope – Leto Atreides (Isaac) as the Duke/ruler of a powerful planet/army, his partner Jessica (Ferguson) and their son Paul (Chalamet). They’re sent to the desert planet of Arrakis to mine spice, which sets off a chain of intergalactic events, between the Atreides, the Fremin, the Emperor, the Harkonnen and the Bebe Gesserit (don’t worry – it’ll make sense by the end. Or it wont!)

Pretty star-heavy cast, with everyone getting some screentime during the 2.5 hours – Chani (Zendaya) and Stilgar (Bardem) as two of the indigenous desert-dwelling Fremin, the grotesque Baron (Skarsgard), the Duke’s right-hand-man Gurney (Brolin), fun-soldier-guy Duncan (Momoa), bad-bald-guy Rabban (Bautista) and Dr Kynes (Duncan-Brewster). The most disconcerting thing of the film is that Paul’s mum is only 12 years older than him in real life! The film throws in a fair bit of mythology/prophecy and universe-building, but not too much to overwhelm. The dragonfly helicopter/planes are particularly cool!

The score and use of drums is great, adding lots of momentum and while it always feels like this is setting up for the next film(s), it’s still an enjoyable journey following Paul (from real-world Norway to Jordan & the UAE) and seeing his character grow as he tries to figure out how his visions might fit his world and the galaxy. Will expect slightly more from the sequel!

Overall: Well-executed sci-fi tale

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.