Poor Things

Official Australian release date: 26/12/23. Viewed: 22/12/23.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Actors: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef
Genre: Drama / Romance
Rating: MA

‘Poor Things’ is… weird and hard to fully explain. It has elements of sci-fi, Frankenstein, romance, comedy and drama, as well as oddly framed camera angles, lots of fish-eye lens and keyhole shots. It follows Bella (Stone) and her “father”/creator, Godwin (Dafoe, who does well to still be able to act in his mask), Bella’s fiancée Max (Youssef) and fling Duncan (Ruffalo). The film's technically set in the 19^th century, but in a fictional world.

We follow Bella as she grows and learns what the world’s about, through 6 distinct acts – London, Lisbon, Alexandria, Paris and London again. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Godwin is a faux Frankenstein/Geppetto, w with Bella his Frankenstein’s Monster/Pinocchio. While the first 40min is all black & white, it establishes that we’re in a fantastical/un-real world and enables what follows to not be too jarring. Once Bella gains independence, her and Duncan go on a trip and we’re back in colour and there’s lots of nods to Wes Anderson.

There is a lot of sex and nudity from Stone, as Bella explores her sexuality. It often adds to the story, but not always. Stone is excellent as Bella, giving her a peculiar gait and way of talking to always make sure you know the character is not a normal adult. Ruffalo has some fun moments, and Dafoe’s always good, making Godwin into an empathetic character. I didn’t love the score and some of the cinematography, although the sky when they’re on the boat is captivating. At 140min, it’s probably 30min too long and while different, it with sometimes feels like odd things are thrown in just for oddness’ sake.

Overall: Unique, odd, sex-filled journey

Gav's Rating: 3 stars 

Godzilla Minus One

Official Australian release date: 1/12/23. Viewed: 11/12/23.
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Actors: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Kuranosuke Sasaki
Genre: Action / Drama
Rating: M

‘Godzilla Minus One’ (or ‘Gorjira -1.0’) is probably the 35^th Godzilla film overall, but the first Japanese language one I’ve seen in a while. It’s definitely a little different to the last 3 Hollywood versions of Godzilla we’ve seen over the past 10 years, and not just his actual less-bulky design. The CGI’s not bad – just different. This film is set in Japan during 1945–1947, so there’s plenty of post-WWII trauma and themes at play.

We follow failed Kamikaze pilot Koichi (Kamiki) as he comes to terms with the devastation of Tokyo, his family and his survivors guilt. He’s then joined by Noriko (Hamabe) and daughter Akiko (Nagatani) and the film spends a lot of time with this complicated relationship. Koichi eventually gets a job clearing sea mines with Captain Yoji (Sasaki) and Dr Noda (Yoshioka). They just survive their first encounter with Godzilla.

As with all monster movies, I find it’s a very fine line between seeing too little of the monster/creature and not enough. There’s probably an hour in the middle of this film where we needed to see more Godzilla. That being said, the film’s don’t work if there’s absolutely no plot or sympathy for the lead characters – which there is here. But it’s sometimes a bit too melodramatic. It also makes it confusing – am I cheering for Godzilla to kill all these people? Or are we cheering for the humans to kill Godzilla? Bittersweet either way. Some great large-scale set pieces here, but a little too long.

Overall: Bigger = better?

Gav's Rating: 3 stars 

The Boy and the Heron

Official Australian release date: 7/12/23. Viewed: 10/12/23.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Actors: Luca Padovan, Robert Pattinson, Gemma Chan, Florence Pugh
Genre: Adventure / Drama
Rating: PG

‘The Boy and the Heron’ is Miyazaki’s 12^th film, and while not his best, it’s still exceptional animation with a nice story and a bit of weirdness thrown in to make it interesting. This time, we follow the titular boy, Mahito (Padovan) as his father (Bale) moves them from Tokyo to the Japanese countryside during World War II, after the death of his mother. There he has to deal with his new step-mother, Natsuko (Chan) and new environment.

There’s a bit of effort that goes into the set-up – and the fire scene in Tokyo is excellently animated – then a lull as Mahito tries to find his place in his new circumstances. This is where he encounters the Heron (Pattinson) – with a cool face-swap trick – who leads him to an abandoned tower, which transports them to a hidden world, a we’re on a bit of an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ trip. Kiriko (Pugh), Himi (Fukuhara) and Grand-Uncle (Hamill) are (mostly) helpful to Mahito here, as he has to figure-out how to save Natsuko and get back to his world.

I don’t think this lives up to ‘Princess Mononoke’ or ‘Spirited Away’, but is similar to ‘Ponyo’ or ‘The Wind Rises’. Possibly a bit long at 2 hours, but it does have plenty of weird creatures, a great voice cast (including Dafoe as a pelican and Bautista as a parakeet!), some beautifully painted backdrops, a great score and a nice little moral about looking out for others and choosing your own path.      

Overall: Interesting animated other-realm adventure

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars 

Napoleon

Official Australian release date: 23/11/23. Viewed: 25/11/23.
Director: Ridley Scott
Actors: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Rupert Everett
Genre: War / Drama
Rating: MA

‘Napoleon’ is another grand historical epic from the masterful Ridley Scott, and while it’s hard to compare all his films, this would rank below ‘Gladiator’, ‘Black Hawk Down’ and ‘The Martian’, but better than ‘The Last Duel’, ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Kingdom of Heaven’. The film starts during the French Revolution in the 1790s, when Napoleon Bonaparte (Phoenix) is already in his 20s and an up-and-comer in the French army. There’s not a whole lot of back-story, as there’s a lot of his life to fit into the 2.5 hours. We then see a few pivotal battles and meet his soon-to-be wife, Josephine (Kirby) and politician/advocate Paul Barras (Rahim), as Napoleon becomes Counsul.

While Kirby is good, the film probably spends more time than is needed establishing the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine and their trying to conceive an heir. While more background to the French revolution, the mechanisms of how Napoleon become Emperor and why he was going to war with some of the other countries would’ve been nice, it’s already hard to keep up with the amount of characters – other army generals, governors, politicians, foreign kings, etc.

What grounds the whole film is Phoenix – as usual, he’s a great mix of serious, eccentric and captivating. I assume he’ll be Oscar-nominated again. The Battle of Waterloo in 1815 is impressive and superbly staged and looks done mostly without CGI. The Duke of Wellington (Everett) only comes into the film in the final 40min or so, but is a good counter-point to Napoleon. While never getting bogged down and it’s certainly a good film, it feels like there’s something missing that would’ve made this great. Maybe the 4-hour cut will remedy it!

Overall: Well-made story of one of history’s most famous characters

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

 

The Marvels

Official Australian release date: 9/11/23. Viewed: 11/11/23.
Director: Nia DaCosta
Actors: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Samuel L Jackson
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

‘The Marvels’ is the sequel to ‘Captain Marvel’ and the first time we’ve seen Carol Danvers (Larson) since ‘Avengers: Endgame’. The difference this time is that this time, fate brings her, Monica Rambeau (Parris, introduced in ‘WandaVision’) and Kamala Khan (Vellani, introduced in ‘Ms Marvel’) together to stop the new Kree threat this time, Dar-Benn (Ashton). Tying it all together, like he’s done so many times, in Nick Fury (Jackson) – but he has a lot more levity here than in ‘Secret Invasion’, thankfully.

There’s a bit of background to the Kree/Skull war, but not too much – but the best aliens are still the cats/Flerken, who have a nice mini-role to play. Special mention to the singing/choreography-dancing aliens on the water planet too. Besides stopping the Kree from destroying more worlds, the main plot point is the three lead characters finding out how to use their light-powers together and complement heach other. This is helped by Kamala enthusiasm and teenage idealism – like the show, this is a real breath of fresh air and balances well with Carol and Monica.

We also get Kamala’s mum, dad and brother, who also add some nice heart and humour, including with Fury and during the initial place-swapping scenes. There’s some middling battle scenes, but some nice CGI and planets throughout. The ending is mostly satisfying, with a good mid-credits scene.

Overall: Good standalone buddy adventure

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

Killers of the Flower Moon

Official Australian release date: 19/10/23. Viewed: 22/10/23.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Scott Shepherd
Genre: Drama / Biopic
Rating: M

 

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is Scorsese’s 3^rd 3-hour-plus film in the past 10 years, and the 10^th film directed by him starring Robert De Niro, and 6^th film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. This film proves a case of “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”. While not necessarily an “epic”, it is a very well put together story, set just in the 1920s in Oklahoma, where Ernest (DiCaprio) is returning from WWI to live with his uncle, Hale (De Niro) and brother Byron (Shepherd). They’re the white folk trying to cash in on the Native Americans who have found oil and are becoming rich – the Osage people.

Rather than focusing solely on white men subjugating the native population, the film does well to establish a few key characters to follow over a number of years and watch their (unfortunately true) stories unfold. Critical to this is Mollie (Gladstone), an Osage woman, who Ernest falls in love with and marries. What happens to her and her extended family over the course of the film is both tragic and hard-to-believe, but also sadly within the realms of human evil.

The film is helped by Gladstone delivering an excellent performance that holds everything together and acts as a benchmark for the other characters. DiCaprio is also good, but this is arguably De Niro’s best performance in the last 15 years, as he plays a subtle hand as the seemingly benevolent Hale, as his true intentions are slowly revealed. The supporting cast are good, including Millie’s sisters and the FBI/lawyers when they finally come into play in the final third. It’s well-paced, with a good wrap-up and at no point did I feel bored. Probably not Scorsese’s best ever, but up there with ‘Casino’, ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘Gangs of New York’.

Overall: Excellent story of human greed.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars

A Haunting In Venice

Official Australian release date: 14/9/23. Viewed: 14/10/23.
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, Kelly Reilly
Genre: Drama / Mystery
Rating: M

 

‘A Haunting in Venice’ is the third (and maybe final?) film in the Agatha Christie series directed by Kenneth Branagh, and starring him as genius detective Hercule Poirot, after ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ and ‘Death on the Nile’. This time, 1947 Venice is the setting, with the Italian canals and rooftops adding to the overall vibe. Poirot is coxed out of retirement by Ariadne (Fey) to come to a Halloween party and séance to disprove a medium, Reynolds (Yeoh).

Obviously, someone is murdered and Poirot is back on the case. The plot is thickened, as Rowena (Reilly)’s daughter mysteriously died in the past year, and we’re not sure how it’s connected. There’s a fine-line tread between ghosts/spirits here and Poirot’s scepticism/logic. All is eventually revealed. Once the murder occurs, there are 10 suspects left in the palazzo – including a Doctor (Dornan), bodyguard (Portfoglio), ex-boyfriend Maxim (Allen) and housekeeper (Cottin) – and Poirot goes about collecting their stories and alibis.

This film is shorter than previous two films, but does seem a bit scattershot for the first 30min, with lots of odd cuts and camera angles, mostly trying to put us of the scent of what’s actually happening. But I did feel that Poirot felt a little tired and lacked some verve. Might just be that Branagh is now in his 60s! Since it’s set in the early hours of Halloween in an old building in the 40s, there’s a lot of darkness/candle-lighting, so it’s sometimes hard to see what’s going on. The culprit is a bit of a surprise, and the reasoning just makes sense.

Overall: Still a good mystery, but not my favourite of the 3

Gav's Rating: 3 stars

The Creator

Official Australian release date: 28/9/23. Viewed: 27/9/23.
Director: Gareth Edwards
Actors: John David Washington, Madeline Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

‘The Creator’ is a new take on a trusted sci-fi trope of humanity vs “the other”. In this case, we have an almost Skynet-like rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots – set 50 years in the future – but then the film takes a bit of a turn, as we predominantly follow Joshua (Washington), Maya (Chan) and Alphie (Voyles) and their struggle between survival and doing the right thing. Probably Edwards’ best film since ‘Monsters’.

This is definitely not an outright sci-fi war film, like ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, and is not a Star Wars rip-off, but does take elements of both. There’s also elements of ‘Chappie’, ‘Elysium’, ‘Westworld’, but it’s all very focused on the humans vs AI struggle and the greyness of what’s right/best for the future, and that age-old sci-fi question: what does it mean to be human?

The cinematography is excellent, Washington and Voyles are great, Janney as the Colonel plays well against type, we get Watanabe as a wise robot and the final set-piece is pretty impressive, based around the NOMAD ship. Sometimes the tone/pace is a little off, and none of the reveals are particularly shocking, but it does add up to a pretty coherent, plausible and satisfying whole.

Overall: Good addition to the humans v robots record.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Official Australian release date: 7/9/23. Viewed: 3/9/23.
Directors: Jeff Rowe & Kyler Spears
Actors: Nicolas Cantu, Micah Abbey, Brady Noon, Shamon Brown Jr.
Genre: Action / Adventure         
Rating: PG

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‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ may be the 8^th TMNT film, but it’s clearly the best so far – even better than the 1990 original that most of us grew up with! While this is a predominantly-animated reboot, it doesn’t diss or tarnish anything from the original films of the 1990s cartoon, but rather remain faithful to them, while building a new interesting world with accurate takes on the teenagers. Here brothers Leonardo (Cantu), Michelangelo (Brown Jr), Raphael (Noon) and Donatello (Abbey) are likeable outcasts who yearn to be normal teenagers in the human world.

That all changes when a new villain emerges, who was created by the same radioactive ooze: Superfly (Ice Cube). The brothers find an ally in April O’Neil (Edebiri), who helps them set out to take down Superfly without Master Splinter (Chan) finding out. While there’s some obvious plot points, there’s also a lot of levity and self-aware jokes made. The banter between the boys is genuinely funny and realistic throughout, especially Donny.

Written & produced by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg, with one of the directors of ‘The Mitchells vs the Machines’ this was always going to be handled with care and look unique – the animation and lighting throughout is superb for a cartoon, almost as good as the ‘Spider-Verse’ films. And what a voice cast – Jackie Chan, Maya Rudolph, Ice Cue, Paul Rudd, Rose Byrne, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Giancarlo Esposito, Hannibal Buress! The score is by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, outside their comfort zone, and the soundtrack is suitably modern with some old hip-hop and fun choices. All done in 100min!

Overall: Fun new take on everyone’s favourite green brothers!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars

BlackBerry

Official Australian release date: 17/8/23. Viewed: 26/8/23.
Director: Matt Johnson
Actors: Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Matt Johnson, Cary Elwes
Genre: Drama / Biopic         
Rating: M

‘BlackBerry’ is another mostly-non-fiction cautionary business origin film, along the lines of ‘The Founder’ and ‘The Social Network’, as well as this year’s ‘Air’ and ‘Tetris’. We follow friends Mike (Baruchel), the tech whiz & Doug, the morale-booster (Johnson, also the director) who have formed start-up Research In Motion in Canada in the 90s, focusing on making modems and have a patent for a handheld email device. They come across ruthless businessman Jim (Howerton), who turns their idea into a reality.

The film probably sensationalises a lot of things, but does well to focus on some of the personal drama, especially the balancing act between Mike & Jim. But I would’ve liked to have seen more of the Mike/Doug dynamic and their early-RIM friends/employees doing the development. The acting is good all-round, with Baruchel playing someone different for him, Howerton is a great bastard and Johnson is fun, basically the TJ Miller character form ‘Silicon Valley’. There’s some laughs, but a lot more focus on the progress of the business.

BlackBerry had a good 6 years from 2002–2007, somewhat thanks to Mike becoming more like Jim, as well as hiring slave-driver Charles (Ironside) and the things that Jim has to do to fend off the takeover by Carl (Elwes) and Palm. BlackBerry was ultimately doomed to fail when Android OS became the standard for mobile phones, as well as the marketing behind the iPhone. Big shame for me, as I think I was one of the few in Australia who still owned a BlackBerry in 2010! Well-paced and under 2 hours, with an OK-digital-style score.

Overall: Somewhat bittersweet, but engaging story

Gav's Rating: 3 stars

Oppenheimer

Official Australian release date: 20/7/23. Viewed: 14/8/23.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Actors: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon
Genre: Drama / Biopic         
Rating: MA

‘Oppenheimer’ sounds like it could be boring – a film about a theoretical physicist in the early 20^th century. This could not be further from reality – I’d have to rate this up there with Nolan’s best work, almost better than ‘Inception’ and ‘The Prestige’. Time will tell. Cillian Murphy is excellent as Robert Oppenheimer, who leads America’s “Manhattan Project” during 1942–1945 in the race to develop the atomic bomb before the Nazis and end World War II.

While some creative licence may have been taken at times, the film does well to capture enough of the history, players and importance of the what, why and how. While no other actor outshines Murphy, there’s great support from wife Kitty (Blunt), his post-WWII boss Strauss (Downey Jr), first girlfriend Jean (Pugh), Einstein (Conti), Lawrence (Hartnett), Teller (Safdie), Rabi (Krumholz) and General Groves (Damon). There’s about 30 other familiar faces who pop up, either in Los Alamos or the hearings afterwards. While mostly linear, the time-swaps and black-and-white footage interspersed in the final act add an element of suspense to the post-WWII years.

Even though the run-time is 3 hours, the first hour flies by at breakneck speed, setting the scene, then the detail and problem-solving of the Manhattan Project almost make you forget what’s at stake – before the final act hammers home the moral and emotional toll the bomb had on Oppenheimer. The score is really great and adds plenty to the context – including the lack of score for the bomb test detonation, which has excellent practical special effects. There’s personal drama for Oppenheimer and his colleagues, and the film does well not to turn into a war (or anti-war) film, but stay focused on the scientific achievements. The court-room-type scenes are superbly done. You feel justified, fulfilled and sombre by the end.

Overall: An exceptional film in all respects

Gav's Rating: 4.5 stars

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I

Official Australian release date: 8/7/23. Viewed: 8/7/23.
Director: Chris McQuarrie
Actors: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg  
Genre: Action / Adventure         
Rating: M

‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I' (M:I7) is another strong entry in the action/spy series, with Ethan (Cruise) looking slightly older, but not less determined to save the world. I believe the sequel to this film will be his last outing – but we’ll see. This time, there’s some Skynet-like sentient-AI that’s manipulating nefarious types to take over the world, so the IMF team are out to get the two halves of key that can stop it.

Isla (Ferguson), Benji (Pegg) and Luther (Rhames) are back, as well as CIA boss Kittridge (Czerny), with Grace (Atwell), a thief, being the newcomer. The bad guys that keep thwarting them are Gabriel (Morales) from Ethan’s past, and Paris (Klementieff). The consistency of having McQuarrie as director of the two previous films helps, with everything feeling assured and this working as a really solid follow-up to ‘Fallout’.

There’s some funny moments, some sincere ones, and some of Ethan running, as contractually-obliged. The whole final scene on the train is excellent, with so many things happening, but there’s plenty of good set-pieces throughout, including a good car chase. However, the piece-de-resistance is the motorbike off the cliff into a BASE jump is something else. The fact Cruise did it for real, multiple times, is crazy and inspiring.

Overall: Can’t wait until the next (final?) one!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars

 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Official Australian release date: 29/6/23. Viewed: 2/7/23.
Director: James Mangold
Actors: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Ethan Isidore  
Genre: Action / Adventure         
Rating: M

‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ (or Indiana Jones 5) comes 42 years after the original, and while not in the same league as ‘Raiders’ or ‘Last Crusade’, it is up there with ‘Temple of Doom’. This film is directed by Mangold (‘Logan’ and ‘Ford v Ferrari’), who knows how to film a car/train chase. This time, it’s 1969 and we have an older Indy (Ford) trying to find the eponymous “dial” (more like an ancient ballerina box) with his goddaughter, Helena (Waller-Bridge).

She brings some good humour and a nice presence to balance Indy, as well as another pre-teen offsider, Teddy (Ididore), while Voller (Mikkelsen) and Klaber (Holbrook) are good as the modern-day Nazi bad guys. There’s a few slow moments early on (aside from the opening train scene), but the film really hits it’s stride in the 2^nd & 3^rd acts.

As with most Indiana Jones films, you have to suspend a bit of disbelief, but the plot-point for the final act is pretty dumb. There’s a few cameos, the iconic score from John Williams, some good wise-cracks and a mostly-satisfying ending. Mostly though, it feels comfortable and a mostly-exciting adventure film, as it should be.

Overall: Solid farewell to an icon

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Official Australian release date: 22/6/23. Viewed: 26/6/23.
Director: Steven Caple Jr
Actors: Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Peter Cullen, Pete Davidson
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: M

‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ is maybe the 7^th Transformers film and a reboot (also maybe) – I gave up watching them a while ago, but making this a film version of the great 1996-99 TV show ‘Beast Wars’ made it worth a watch. While we get Maximals, there’s no Predacons – I assume they’ll be the plot for the sequel. This is set in 1994 for some reason, so we get plenty of 90s hip-hop and two new human characters – Noah (Ramos) & Elena (Fishback). They find the power-stone-thing, which is a space/time portal, which brings the Autobots and the Terrorcons (not Decepticons).

The plot is then to either destroy the power-stone-thing, or the Autobots use it to get back to Cybertron. The Maximals got sent back in time to Earth 5,000 years ago, escaping Unicron (the Galactus of Transformers). They then go to Peru to try to stop Unicron coming to Earth. As with all alien films, too much time is spent on humans, as after the 5min prologue, there’s probably 40min with mostly just Noah and Elena and giving them backstory. I know they think we relatable characters, but we’re mostly here to see robots fight!

Which does pay-off solidly in the final act. It’s good to see Optimus still voiced by Peter Cullen and Bumblebee is still there, with Mirage (the Porche) voiced by Pete Davidson. There’s also Arcee, Wheeljack, Optimus Primal, Air-razor, Rhinox and Cheetor. The main bad-guy, Unicron’s right-hand-man, is a Ultron rip-off, Scourge (Dinklage). Ending is predictable, but obviously leaves open further films. Some solid jokes and action throughout. I think if you’re a 7-14 year old kid, you’ll love this.

Overall: Lacking in many ways, but fun enough

Gav's Rating: 3 stars

The Flash

Official Australian release date: 15/6/23. Viewed: 14/6/23.
Director: Andy Muschietti
Actors: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: M

‘The Flash’ has been a long time coming, when you consider that Miller first played the character in ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ in 2016 and this version of the film starring Miller was announced in 2014! It’s interesting that they still try to make him the “funny one” of the Justice League team, when DC have kind of done that with the two ‘Shazam’ films already, and at it’s core, this film asks the serious question – if you could go back in time, would you save a loved one who died?

Due to the time-travel & parallel universe aspect of the film, we get to see many multiples – Barry/Flash (Miller), Batman (Keaton & Affleck) and Superman (no spoilers!). I’d say Keaton actually gets more screentime than Affleck and does really well, especially considering he’s 71 and hasn’t played Batman for over 30 years! The main plot is basically ‘Back to the Future’, which gets plenty of nods, with Batman and Kara (Calle) helping Barry to get back and overcome the changes of where he’s ended up.

Some of the “speed-force” CGI is pretty bad and the main problem the film has is trying to tie together a decade of DC films that haven’t had the same interconnectedness/planning as the Marvel films. This film uses Zod (Shannon) as the villain again, taking it back to 2013’s ‘Man of Steel’. While there’s not a crazy amount that’s new, there’s some funny/nice/good moments, but probably not enough to elevate this to something special, and it’s not quite as good as ‘Wonder Woman’ or ‘Man of Steel’.

Overall: Decent time-travel caper

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Official Australian release date: 1/6/23. Viewed: 2/6/23.
Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin Thompson
Actors: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Jason Schwartzman
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: PG

‘Across the Spider-Verse’ is the 4 and a half years later sequel to ‘Into the Spider-Verse’, with the third part of the trilogy – ‘Beyond the Spider-Verse’ – thankfully only a 9-month wait. It doesn’t pick up right where the first one finished, but starts with Gwen Stacy (Steinfeld) in her universe, before we get re-introduced to now-15-years-old Miles Morales (Moore). It’s probably not essential to have seen the first film, or any of the other ‘Spider-Man’ films, but it definitely helps – lots of little nods and references throughout.

This time the seemingly-innocuous villain is “The Spot” (Schwartzman), who has a cool power and makes some good jokes, but actually has a solid arc, which sets up the next film. Worth noting this is basically half a film (even though it goes for 2 hours 15min), intentionally split in two. When Miles and Gwen try to stop The Spot across the multiverse, they encounter a universe full of Spider-Men, including the familiar Peter Parker (Johnson), with the 2099 version Miguel (Isaac) trying to act as the safekeeper of the multiverse, which sets up a disagreement.

There’s a fair bit going on, obviously, and so many inside jokes and references when we meet some of the various Spider-Men (would reward repeat viewings), but at it’s heart it’s still a coming-of-age story with Miles and Gwen at it’s centre, trying to do what’s right and prove themselves in the world(s). Soundtrack will appeal to teens. I think the universe-hopping is handled well, but the standout, as with the original, is the various types of animation and how they change and fit each scene. The watercolours complement the CGI and classic cartoon styles superbly. Some great new sidekick characters and set-up superbly for the third (final?) film.

Overall: Still plenty of action & fun – bring on the finale!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars

Evil Dead Rise

Official Australian release date: 20/4/23. Viewed: 7/5/23.
Director: Lee Cronin
Actors: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Gabrielle Echols, Nell Fisher
Genre: Horror
Rating: R

‘Evil Dead Rise’ is not a direct sequel to the 2013 reboot, but rather a continuation of the demonic possession horror series. No real links to ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ or Bruce Campbell, but it is produced by him and Sam Rami. It’s filmed in New Zealand, but presumably set in California. The main difference is that this is not set in a cabin in the woods, but rather an apartment building, where Ellie (Sutherland), her kids Bridget (Echols), Danny (Davies) and Kassie (Fisher) live, when their sister/aunty Beth (Sullivan) visits.

Once an earthquake leads to an unearthing of the Book of the Dead, we’re set on a familiar path of demonic possession and horrific gore and violence. While nothing particularly new, the top-level apartment setting opens up new possibilities and the young family with two strong female protagonists is a nice new take. All the actors are good, including the three kids. Soundtrack is appropriately violin-filled and on point.

There’s 12 characters in all, so enough for a good kill-count, with just enough time to get to know the family of 5 and care about them. It’s a tight 95min, so not much fluffing around, which is great. Plenty of vomiting, blood, gore, contortion and the speedy-camera-like-the-wind we’ve come to expect. Nice little nod to ‘The Shining’. While not being tongue-in-cheek, there’s definitely still some laughs and inventive deaths, but genuinely scary and gross in parts.

Overall: Really delivers on the horror to new or old fans

Gav's Rating: 4 stars