The Banshees of Inisherin

Official Australian release date: 26/12/22.
Viewed: 31/12/22.
Director: Martin McDonagh
Actors: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Rating: M

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ is from director McDonagh, he of ‘In Bruges’, ‘Seven Psychopaths’ & ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ fame. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it as good as any of his previous films. It’s good to see Farrell & Gleeson back together again, as well as a predominately Irish cast playing Irish characters. The plot is simple – Colm (Gleeson) decides he doesn’t have time to be friends with Padraic (Farrell) anymore, so Padraic, his sister Siobhan (Condon) and another friend, Dominic (Keoghan), try to find out why.

Part of the problem is their isolation, living on the (fictional) island of Inisherin off the west coast of Ireland in the 1920s – there’s not much else to do or many other people to interact with! There are plenty of chuckles as the news spreads (via refreshing accents not often heard in Hollywood films) and Padraic tries to comprehend what his long-time friend is doing to him. The 1920s era means there’s no cars, electricity or large buildings, so the scenery (real-life islands of Inishmore, off the coast of Galway) and sunsets are stunning, almost their own character.

The acting’s great, particularly Condon, with Keoghan purposefully annoying, Farrell often bewildered and Gleeson adroit. While it’s a comedy, it’s very dark and bleak – definitely more of a black comedy or “dramedy” than anything laugh-out-loud. Definitely lots to enjoy, but the ending and overall plot left me gloomy, when I was hoping for a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Overall: Great-looking bleak comedy.

Gav’s Rating: 3 stars.

Top Gun: Maverick

Official Australian release date: 26/05/22.
Viewed: 13/12/22.
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Actors: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Monica Barbaro
Genre: Action / Drama
Rating: M

Whoops, forgot to do my ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ review! I didn’t particularly love or hate the original Top Gun and wasn’t sure it warranted a sequel, especially 36 years later, but this is pretty fun. The plot’s purposefully minimal – the U.S. Navy needs Pete/Maverick (Cruise) to train some new pilots to fight some unnamed foreign bad guys. Obviously, this requires him to sit in a cockpit and show them how it’s done.

The new pilots are Bradley/Rooster (Teller – the ‘Whiplash’ guy), Natasha/Phoenix (Barbaro), Jake/Hangman (Powell), Reuben/Payback (Ellis) and Bob (Pullman). The drama comes from Rooster being Goose’s son and the animosity that Maverick has created between them. There’s also solid cameos from love interest Penny (Connelly), Iceman (Kilmer) in one scene, and Warlock (Parnell) & Cyclone (Hamm) as the Navy bosses.

Cruise is as charismatic as ever, with lots of jaw-clenching and trying to do the right thing, his way. The “new recruits” are good and provide some energy to the plot, but the interplay between Rooster and Maverick drives everything. However, as with the original, the stars of the show are the aerial aerobatics performed by the F18s and other planes and the stunts/editing that makes it so fun to watch. Predictable, if a bit dumb ending, and it feels a lot quicker than 2 hours.

Overall: Enjoyable, plot-less joy-ride

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars.

 

Avatar: The Way of Water

Official Australian release date: 15/12/22.
Viewed: 20/12/22.
Director: James Cameron
Actors: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: M

 

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ (or Avatar 2) comes almost exactly 13 years after the original broke all box-office records. The film does well to simultaneously make it feel like you’ve never left Pandora, but also to remind you of the characters and catch you up on the new ones, including Jake Sully (Worthington) and Neytiri (Saldana)’s four kids – eldest son Neteyam (Flatters), Loak (Dalton), Kiri (Weaver) & little Tuk (Bliss). The explanation for Kiri being Grace (Weaver’s original character)’s daughter is not clear at all, but Colonel Quaritch (Lang) is back, with a far simpler explanation – he and his marine team were cloned on Earth and sent back in Navi Avatars.

Once we re-establish that humans are the worst and still trying to colonise Pandora and exploit it’s resources, Sully & Neytiri take their family away from the fighting to the coral atolls/islands of the Metkayina tribe, led by Tonowari (Curtis) & Ronal (Winslet). This creates some interesting dynamics, but also introduces a whole new underwater ecosystem for the camera to explore. Probably the most impressive thing about these films is how Cameron makes everything seem so real and all the creatures plausible – all seeming like slightly different evolutionary branches of Earth’s creatures. The ‘whales’ are particularly remarkable.

It's good to see a little comedy thrown in (& Aussies/Kiwis), with Jermaine Clement & Brendan Cowell. However, just when the film seems like it might be a repeat of the first, the second act turns it on it’s head and focus on the inter- and intra-family dynamics and has a narrower focus on how the ocean-dwelling Navi interact with their environment. This serves the film well, as rather than try to fight every human colonist and machine, it is more intimate and you get to care for the main characters by the end. Bring on the next 3!

Overall: Still visually stunning, with a good story

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars.

The Menu

Official Australian release date: 24/11/22.
Viewed: 4/12/22.
Director: Mark Mylod
Actors: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau
Genre: Thriller / Comedy
Rating: MA

 

 

‘The Menu’ is a biting satire on the modern infatuation with food fetishisation. The premise is simple – Tyler (Hoult), Margot (Taylor-Joy) and an exclusive group – including food critics Lillian (McTeer) & Ted (Adelstein) + actor Leguizamo & partner Felicity (Carrero) + millionaire Richard (Birney) & Anne (Light) + 3 frat-boys – pay an exorbitant fee to get a boat to a secluded island (off the coast of Georgia) where a famous chef (Fiennes), maître de Elsa (Chau) and their team cook them a degustation dinner.

After 30min of getting to know the characters and wondering how similar this was going to be to ‘The Trip’, it takes a left-turn and almost does a ‘Get Out’. It’s funny to see how each character reacts to the events, and while they’re often absurd, you wonder what you would do in the same situation…

It’s definitely not a full-on horror film, or an outright comedy, but strikes a nice black-comedy balance, carried primarily by Fiennes & Taylor-Joy, with all the others adding something to the mix. Each twist is not quite what you expect and the ending is great fun. Lots of “why?”s, but also – why not? The less you know going in, the better!

Overall: Fun, sly and engaging

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars.