X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Official Australian release date: 6/6/19. Viewed: 13/6/19.

Director: Simon Kinberg

Actors: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan

Genre: Action / Si-Fi

Rating: M

  

‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ is the seventh X-Men film and the fourth featuring McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence & Hoult as Xavier/Charles, Magneto/Erik, Mystique/Raven & Beast/Hank. It’s worth noting that this is the second film after some of the continuity-tweaking that occurred in “Days of Future Past’, meaning it’s also only the second X-Men film to not feature Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Herein lies some of the problem – he’s the spiritual heart of the X-Men films and they’re definitely on a downward trajectory.

Most of the problem is that since this is essentially the ‘new’ X-Men, we’ve had no time to get familiar with the new Cyclops/Scott (Sheridan), Phoenix/Jean (Turner), Storm/Ororo (Shipp), Nightcrawler/Kurt (Smit-McPhee) & Quicksilver/Peter (Peters). Their chemistry and repartee is lacking, and compared to the MCU films, it’s really noticeable. Nightcrawler should be there for some comic relief, but none is evident. They also act out-of-character at times – Beast & Nightcrawler seeking revenge and killing people/aliens would never happen in the comics. It’s odd, since the director is also the writer of this film and the previous two X-Men films, so should know the characters well enough.

While it’s essentially the same story as ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ (also written by Kinberg), it’s at least a little different (and different from the comics too), with Jean never really being in control. The CGI is good, but the actual cosmic phoenix is barely seen. The 2^nd act is very slow, but there’s a but of action at the end, even if it’s rather predictable at times. Peters, Lawrence & Chastain are all wasted and there needed to be way more backstory to the D’Bari (why aren’t they the Shi’ar?) Some good moments, but the sooner Marvel bring Deadpool, Fantastic Four and the X-Men into the MCU, the better. 

Overall: Left me mostly with a feeling of emptiness.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.

Top End Wedding

Official Australian release date: 24/5/19. Viewed: 5/5/19.

Directors: Wayne Blair

Actors: Miranda Tapsell, Gwilym Lee, Kerry Fox, Huw Higginson

Genre: Comedy / Romance

Rating: M

‘Top End Wedding’ is from the director of ‘The Sapphires’ and also stars Tapsell, this time as Lauren, an up-&-coming lawyer from Adelaide. She gets engaged to Ned (Lee), which sets in motion a whirlwind trip to Darwin to try and pull together a wedding in 10 days before she’s required back at work, thanks to her demanding boss Ms Hampton (Fox).

Back in Darwin, we meet Lauren’s Dad, Trevor (Higginson) and the twist that her Mum, Daphne (Yovich), has left to find her roots. This “mystery” forces Lauren and Ned on a roadtrip to find her, and allows us to see the spectacular scenery in Kakadu and Katherine, as well as eventually, the Tiwi Islands. There’s plenty of funny moments along the way and interesting characters.

As well as the great settings, there’s also some emotional reunions for Lauren and Daphne with their people and country on the Tiwi Islands – it’s all handled really well and is very touching. It’s fantastic to see Aboriginal actors and Australian settings on film – I wish there was more. Overall, a lovely film in terms of story, music, characters and settings.

Overall: Well-made Aussie rom-com.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Avengers: Endgame

Official Australian release date: 24/4/19. Viewed: 25/4/19.

Directors: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

Actors: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

{spoiler-free}

‘Avengers: Endgame’ (or “Avengers 4”) is the culmination of 21 films of inter-connected storytelling and while it’s not the best film ever made (although it may end up the highest-grossing), it is certainly a fitting conclusion to one of cinemas most ambitious undertakings. If you haven’t seen enough Marvel films to understand what’s going on (what have you been doing!?), you’ll still probably enjoy this, but a lot of backstory and character knowledge is assumed. This film follows on directly from ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, but it definitely helps if you’ve seen ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ since then.

OK, some things that will help outline the film, but I don’t think are spoilers: Scott/Ant-Man (Rudd) and Clint/Hawkeye (Renner) get plenty of screen time, seeing as they weren’t in ‘Infinity War’. Natasha/Black Widow (Johansson) and Bruce/Hulk (Ruffalo) also have a bit more to do, which is fitting, giving all the original Avengers time to shine. Thor (Hemsworth) still gets plenty of great jokes. But, as always, this is the Steve & Tony show, with Steve/Captain America (Evans) and Tony/Iron Man (Downey Jr.), reconnecting and leading the Avengers as they try to undo what Thanos (Brolin) did to the universe in ‘Infinity War’.

Plot-wise, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say there’s some time travel involved. It’s not totally out of the realms of what we’ve seen happen in other films, so you can go along with it. This obviously leads to some funny throw-backs/sentimental moments with other characters. Some of the start/middle is a bit of a slog, but it’s all set-up for the end, and they can’t be too happy & having fun after what happened. The final act is very satisfying, but also quite emotional and sad in parts. It’s handled quite well. FYI: No credit scenes at all, so feel free to go to the bathroom after the 3 hours are up!

Overall: Epic conclusion to a masterful series of films – Stan Lee would be proud.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Official Australian release date: 11/4/19. Viewed: 19/4/19.

Director: Terry Gilliam

Actors: Adam Driver, Jonathan Pryce, Joana Ribeiro, Stellan Skarsgard

Genre: Adventure / Comedy

Rating: M

‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ is not a direct adaption of the novel, but rather a well-blended film of a director – Toby/Sancho (Driver) – making a film of Don Quixote, and one of the actors from his first student film – Hector/Don Quixote (Pryce) – having suffered a mental break which makes him believe he’s actually Don Quixote. The film takes a little while to set this all up, but once it gets going, it dovetails nicely, with Toby getting lost in the Spanish countryside and Quixote ‘rescuing’ him.

The film looks great, as it was shot on location in Spain and Portugal, so that’s all authentic. Angelica (Ribeiro) becomes more prominent as the film goes along and has an interesting arc, and both the Boss (Skarsgard) and Alexei (Molla) are believably nasty. Jacqui (Kurylenko) is mostly wasted. The core of the film is Driver and how he assumes the role of Sancho as Quixote’s squire and helper, while trying to get back to civilization and his filmset. Driver is great, moving between anguish, sympathy and arrogance seamlessly.

The contrast of real and delusion is handled well, always keeping you on your toes, especially with the lavish castle-based final act (hosted by Alexei). There’s certainly lots going on, and it does go a bit long and seem disjointed in parts, but if you’ve read the novel and seen ‘Lost in La Mancha’ (when Gilliam first tried to film this, 20 years ago), then you’ll be impressed with how the film honours scenes/passages from the book, without doing them verbatim. Not bad for a novel over 400 years old!

Overall: Slightly crazy, well-acted adventure story.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Long Shot

Official Australian release date: 2/5/19. Viewed: 17/4/19.

Director: Jonathan Levine

Actors: Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, June Diane Raphael, O’Shea Jackson Jr.

Genre: Comedy / Romance

Rating: M

‘Long Shot’ is not a typical Seth Rogen raunchy-comedy, but in saying that, it still features a fair bit of language, sex and drugs. However, not that many classic Rogen laughs! It’s not co-written by Rogen or any of his friends, but still relies a lot on his everyman charm as Fred. The film belongs mostly to Charlotte (Theron), who is Secretary of State, but seems mostly normal and nice. Theron and Rogen work quite well together onscreen.

Directed by Levine (‘50/50’ and ‘Warm Bodies’, both great), he handles “rom-com” well, keeping the pacing up and not dwelling on any drama for too long. There’s plenty of able comedy support for Rogen, with Maggie (Diane Raphael), Lance (Jackson/Ice Cube Jr), Tom (Patel) and Chambers (Odenkirk) getting some decent jokes/moments. Andy Serkis as Wembley (Rupert Murdoch substitute) is great to watch – and between him and Odenkirk’s ignorant President, provides a great bit of up-to-date political commentary.

It’s all quite believable and both the tender and serious moments are handled well. The whole “she would never go for him” thing barely comes into it, as both Theron & Rogen are relatable and their chemistry is nice to watch. Good ending and feels quicker than it’s 2 hours.

Overall: Enjoyable rom-com.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Hellboy

Official Australian release date: 11/4/19. Viewed: 13/4/19.

Director: Neil Marshall

Actors: David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane

Genre: Action / Fantasy

Rating: R

‘Hellboy’ is a total reboot of the (great) 2004/2008 films by Guillermo del Toro – this time Hellboy is played by Harbour and still looks pretty great with this makeup & giant right fist. This time around is from the director of ‘Doomsday’ and ‘The Descent’, so it has much more of a horror/gore/supernatural leaning than the other films. To ensure the R-rating, on top of the all the blood and violence, there’s also plenty of (often needless) swearing.

Plot is somehow linked to King Arthur, Merlin and the Blood Queen (Jovovich), an ancient witch who’s resurrected to wreck havoc. Hellboy has to team up with Daimio (Dae Kim) from M11 and Alice (Lane), an old friend and clairvoyant, to stop “Nimue”. There’s giants, vampires, ghouls and all sorts of weird stuff, but the hardest to go along with is Gruagach (Graham), who is basically just Bebop from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. McShane as Prof Bloom is good, but under-used, and Lane is solid, but the rest of the cast don’t really bring too much and go through the motions.  

There’s some great CGI, but also some creatures and shots that are a bit too gratuitous and don’t really add to the story, particularly in the final scenes. Harbour is OK as Hellboy, but is missing some of Perlman’s charm. In general, the film lacks the heart and humour of the original films – and sorely misses Liz & Abe Sapien.

Overall: Average attempt at a darker hero.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Shazam!

Official Australian release date: 4/4/19. Viewed: 4/4/19.

Directors: David F. Sandberg

Actors: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Jack Grazer, Asher Angel

Genre: Action / Comedy

Rating: M

‘Shazam!’ is the seventh DCEU film and is similar to ‘Aquaman’, in that it’s a standalone origin story, but could also easily link into future ‘Justice League’ films. It also has a similar tone, being a bit less serious in parts, thanks to the protagonists being teenagers – Billy (Angel) and Freddy (Grazer). It’s from the director of ‘Annabelle: Creation’ and ‘Lights Out’, which explains the bits of the film that are a bit darker – it is rated M, not PG, mostly due to how the “seven deadly sins” are portrayed. But it’s definitely not ‘Batman v Superman’ or ‘Suicide Squad’ darkness/quality.

It starts a little slow, as we follow a flashback of Thad (Strong) as a kid – why? He later reappears as the antagonist, and is always fun to watch him as the bad guy. The film does a solid job of introducing Billy and his backstory and why he’s a foster kid. The home life gives the story heart and meaning, with all five of the other kids having enough character development. Freddy gets the most screentime, and most of the film has you wishing he was the one who becomes Shazam/Captain Marvel (Levi), rather than Billy! Levi's good, even if his chest is so fake it distracts half the time!

When it finally does happen, it’s fun to see the “learn how to use superpowers” montage (set to Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Now’). There’s actually quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, as it takes a fairly tongue-in-cheek approach to comic book films – and it gets to reference Batman and Superman heaps, as this comes after the other three films they’re in. It’s a bit long at 130min, there’s some slow patches and some of the fight scenes are a little forced, but it holds together quite well and has more good moments than bad.

Overall: Fun, slightly different, comic book origin.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.