Coco (December 2017)

Official Australian release date: 26/12/17. Viewed: 27/12/17.

Directors: Lee Unkrich & Adrian Molina

Actors: Anthony Gonzalez, Benjamin Bratt, Gael Garcia Bernal, Renee Victor

Genre: Adventure/Comedy

Rating: PG

  

‘Coco’ is another Disney-Pixar animation instant-classic, with an excellent, touching story, good music, in testing characters and great visuals. It’s also something a bit different – set in Mexico and following Miguel (Gonzalez), a boy who is accidently trapped in the Land of the Dead as he tries to escape. Even though all the spirits are depicted as skeletons, it’s not as sinister as it sounds – still very suitable for kids.

Miguel gets transported to the Land of the Dead on “Dia de Muertos” (“Day of the Dead”, when Mexicans honour their ancestors), after trying to learn more about his great-great grandfather (Coco’s dad), who was a famous musician – De La Cruz (Bratt – has a hilarious death). With him for the journey is Dante the dog, who provides a lot of the laughs. It’s great to see Miguel meeting and interacting with his great uncles and great aunties, who he’s only heard about. Plenty of colour, movement and imagination went into the Land of the Dead and it looks great – basically a tiered seaside village. Miguel is helped on his journey to find De La Cruz by Hector (Bernal), who’s trying to visit the Land of the Living, as he’s afraid he’s being forgotten and will soon cease to exist.

If you don’t have tears in your eyes at some point, then you’re probably dead and already in the Land of the Dead! The final 30min is exceptional, with a great twist and plenty of heartwarming moments. This is almost as good as ‘Up’ – huge praise from me! There’s some laughs, some songs, lots of fun, but most importantly the film really highlights the importance of family and honouring those who have come before you – extremely touching at times.

Overall: An extremely enjoyable film.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Pitch Perfect 3 (December 2017)

Official Australian release date: 1/1/18. Viewed: 22/12/17.

Director: Trish Sie

Actors: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Hailee Steinfeld

Genre: Comedy

Rating: M

  

‘Pitch Perfect 3’ is quite similar to the first two films, revolving around the “Bellas” a cappella group – although this time they’re out of college and dealing with being grown-ups. So when the chance to reunite for one last set of shows arises, playing to US troops in Europe, they all jump at it. Not much more to the plot than that, except for a slight detour with Amy’s Dad (Lithgow), which doesn’t add a whole lot, except him doing a horrible Aussie accent.

There’s some crap songs and a few decent ones, but they always make them interesting to watch/listen to and the film always has plenty to keep it’s momentum up – Beca (Kendrick) obviously getting the most screen time and a satisfying conclusion. Amy (Wilson) has a good number of funny lines and Chloe (Snow) has a bit more to do, and the other seven each get a few moments to shine.

I still wish there was more of Elizabeth Banks & John Michael Higgins as the commentators/documentary-makers, but they’re still great in every scene they’re in. It’s all predictable, but nonetheless uplifting and all about being there for your friends and following your dreams, while still being fun enough.

Overall: Fitting finale.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (December 2017)

Official Australian release date: 14/12/17. Viewed: 14/12/17.

Director: Rian Johnson

Actors: Daisy Ridley, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

  

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ (Episode VIII) has a big challenge – live up to the original trilogy and build upon the solid foundation laid by ‘The Force Awakens’. It achieves both in parts, but probably not overall. If Episode VII was reminiscent of ‘A New Hope’, Episode VIII doesn’t really emulate ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ too much. It starts with a pretty good space battle between The Resistance and the First Order, with Poe Dameron (Issac) and General Hux (Gleeson) the main players. Poe’s a great character, but probably needed more of him. The characters are all in different locations, so the film spends a bit of time hopping between them – Luke (Hamill) and Rey (Ridley) are on Ahch-To; Leia (Fisher) is with Poe on a ship being chased by Hux & her son, Kylo Ren (Driver); Finn (Boyega) is on a mission with Rose (Tran) at Canto Bight, a casino planet.

Unlike the original and prequel trilogies, ‘The Last Jedi’ doesn’t pick up a few years later – it’s almost the next day. Some of my main issues with the film are because of this – The First Order had their massive “Starkiller Base” (and seemingly thousands of soldiers) destroyed at the end of Episode VII, so how do they suddenly have two of the biggest spaceships ever seen? Where are all their resources coming from? My other gripes are that’s it’s probably a little too long (2 hours 30min), we don’t learn where Snoke came from or how/why he’s so powerful/in charge, Laura Dern is not really needed, Benicio Del Toro’s character could’ve been done much better and we don’t see nearly enough of R2-D2, C-3PO, or Chewbacca. The film spends too much time in the space stand-off between Leia and Ren and is a bit disjointed cutting between what’s happening.

In saying all that, there’s plenty of positives, with Rey being the shining light in this new trilogy, and Ren continues to remain an interesting character. It’s good to see Luke have more screen time, even if he’s still brooding over his failure of Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. The Porgs were funny and cute, not annoying as I thought they might be, Chewie finally gets a hug from Leia (something that annoyed me at the end of Episode VII) and there’s a few good lightsaber duels, and the final act with the AT-AT’s/sky-speeders is very well done.

Overall: Not the best of the franchise, but does enough to keep the momentum going for Episode IX.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

The Disaster Artist (December 2017)

Official Australian release date: 7/12/17. Viewed: 8/12/17.

Director: James Franco

Actors: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Alison Brie

Genre: Comedy

Rating: M

  

‘The Disaster Artist’ is a homage/satire of the making of ‘The Room’, one of the so-called “worst movies ever”. Full disclosure: I’ve never seen ‘The Room’, as I’m not sure there’s such a thing as “so bad it’s good”… It obviously made enough of an impact for James Franco, who decided to imitate his muse – Tommy Wiseau – by producing, starring in and directing this film. Franco didn’t write it though – it’s based on the book by Greg Sestero, Tommy’s best friend, played by Franco’s brother, Dave. One of the film’s strong points is watching them onscreen together.

There’s an exceptional backing cast – Seth Rogen as a script editor, Alison Brie (Dave Fracno’s actual wife), as Greg’s girlfriend, Ari Graynor as the female co-star, Jacki Weaver, Zac Efron, Paul Scheer, Megan Mullally, Jason Mantzoukas, Hannibal Buress, Sharon Stone, Judd Apatow, Bob Odenkirk. But the film is really carried by the Franco brothers – at least one of them is in every scene. The main revelation is how much James Franco looks like Tommy and the final 5min show a shot-by-shot comparison of some scenes, and it’s uncanny how close they got some of the diction and body language.

This is basically a film about making a film – an actual behind-the-scenes documentary might have been just as good. Not a whole lot happens really, and you know how it’s going to end. There’s plenty of funny moments, but I feel like it might be funnier if you’re familiar with ‘The Room’. Bit disappointed they didn’t actually resolve the mysteries of his age, place of birth & where his money comes from!

Overall: Mostly funny semi-parody.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Justice League (November 2017)

Official Australian release date: 16/11/17. Viewed: 16/11/17.

Director: Zack Snyder

Actors: Ben Affleck, Gal Godot, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

  

‘Justice League’ is the 5^th film in the DC Extended Universe and, after ‘Wonder Woman’, is their best attempt to compete with Marvel – even going as far as bringing in ‘The Avengers’ director, Joss Whedon, to write the screenplay. The director, Snyder (who also directed ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman V Superman’) is only given a “story by” credit. If you haven’t seen any of those three films, I suggest you do, as this film starts with Clark/Superman (Cavill) already dead and Batman/Bruce (Affleck) and Wonder Woman/Diana (Godot) pulling together a super-team to fight off some impending doom.

There’s the obligatory hour of introductions to each of the five main characters: Arthur/Aquaman (Momoa), Victor/Cyborg (Fisher), Barry/Flash (Miller, the best new character) – plus more screen time for Lois Lane (Adams), Martha Kent (Lane), Commissioner Gordon (Simmons) and Alfred (Irons), who are all kind of wasted. The plot is that they have to fight off an alien bent on destroying Earth, with his army of zombie-grasshoppers – directly ripped off from ‘Star Wars: Attack of the Clones’. It’s an odd choice, since this should technically be aimed at kids, but I’m not sure if I’d let anyone younger than 10 watch this…

But that’s part of the problem with the DCEU so far – it’s still trying to be dark and unforgiving, attempting to reach Nolan’s Batman trilogy, but not hitting any of the marks. Something’s just missing that doesn’t hold it all together as well as a Marvel film. And, odd as it may sound, there’s probably too much CGI here. Not a spoiler: obviously Superman comes back and helps save the day, but it begs the question – isn’t everyone a bit suspicious that Clark Kent is now somehow walking around? There’s some decent quips and a few funny moments, mostly thanks to Flash and some OK battle scenes. Plenty of enjoyable moments, but not quite a fully-formed faction film.

Overall: Not bad, not great, but a decent platform.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Thor: Ragnarok (October 2017)

Official Australian release date: 26/10/17. Viewed: 25/10/17.

Director: Taika Waititi

Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson

Genre: Action / Comedy

Rating: M

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ is the best ‘Thor’ film so far, and one of Marvel’s best overall – up there with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ for laughter and excitement. Thor (Hemsworth) has full licence from director Waititi (‘Boy’, ‘Hunt For The Wilderpeople’) to unleash all his humour and charm, which starts very early on, but still allowing big action/battle scenes to unfurl. Loki (Hiddleston) & Odin (Hopkins) are back, but so is their sister, Hela (Blanchett), Goddess of Death, intent on unleashing “Ragnarok” on Asgard – the end of days.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, as Thor and Loki get trapped on a literal dump-planet, where we meet the Grandmaster (Goldblum) – basically an eccentric Roman emperor, who hosts Gladiator duels. Goldblum gets some great lines and steals almost every scene he’s in. This is where Hulk (Ruffalo) comes in and is apparently where he’s been since ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’. Some great moments shared between Hulk and Thor, as Thor is trying to escape so he can rescue the people of Asgard from Hela. He’s helped by a fallen Valkyrie (Thompson), who eventually comes around.

The score is great, and while 80s-synth-ish, is mostly understated. What does stand out is the colour and vibrancy of almost every set – plenty to catch the eye in every shot. But what sets this film apart is it’s humour and pacing. Korg, a rock-monster (voiced by Waititi himself) has some great moments, especially since his Kiwi accent stands out so strongly against the rest of the cast. There’s a strong Antipodean slant to proceedings, with Waititi, Hemsworth, Blanchett, Karl Urban, Rachel House and Sam Neill all having an impact. A great fight scene at the end, but still plenty of quips and slapstick thrown in. End credit scene sets up ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ nicely.

Overall: Fun, fast and mostly light-hearted – really enjoyable.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Blade Runner 2049 (October 2017)

Official Australian release date: 5/10/17. Viewed: 6/10/17.

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Actors: Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Harrison Ford

Genre: Sci-Fi / Mystery

Rating: MA

‘Blade Runner 2049’ comes 35 years after the original – and you have to ask, “why?” Directed by Villeneuve (‘Arrival’) and only produced by Ridley Scott (why is he involved in his own sequel, but not directing?), it doesn’t even attempt to answer the main question of the first film – is Deckard (Ford) a replicant? Why is it always raining? Why do Ford & Leto only have a total of about four scenes between them? Why does it go for over 2 & a half hours?

There is some plot, with K (Gosling) being a replicant Blade Runner, tasked by Joshi (Wright) to track down runaway replicants, which leads to uncovering a mystery surrounding Deckard & Rachael. It takes 100min for Ford to even appear. In the meantime, Hans Zimmer tries to recreate the original’s iconic score, but not as synth-y and sometimes a bit too overwrought. There’s a lot of K interacting with Joi (de Armas), his ‘Her’-like holographic maid. Most of this is handled quite well, with the CGI of Joi interacting with the light and her surroundings done excellently. But, it doesn’t help move the film along at all.

There is occasional bits of action/violence, mostly thanks to Luv (Hoeks), but not enough to sustain the first two hours, with the clues slowly unravelling and not much excitement. It does pick up in the final 45min and has a passable ending, but mostly I’m left with the feeling of “it looks cool, but why do I care?” Good to see heaps more of the flying cars, and like ‘Star Wars’, everything looks realistic and “lived-in”, but most of the concepts have now been explored better by ‘Terminator’ and ‘Mad Max’.    

Overall: Visually stunning, but too long/slow, with not much emotional impact.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.