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

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Official Australian release date: 4/5/23. Viewed: 4/5/23.
Director: James Gunn
Actors: Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Chukwudi Iwuji
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: M

‘Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3’ is the fifth MCU trilogy to wrap up, but the difference here is that it feels like we’ve been waiting a long time, as it’s almost 9 years since the original film showed us how fun and unique a ragtag bunch of semi-superhero aliens could be. Following the events of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (and, to a lesser degree, ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ and the Holiday Special), we pick up with Peter (Pratt), Rocket (Cooper), Groot (Diesel), Nebula (Gillan), Mantis (Klementieff), Drax (Bautista), Cosmo (Bakalova) and Kraglin (Gunn) when they’re attacked by Adam Warlock (Poulter) and Rocket is injured, sending them on a journey to save him.

We see a lot – maybe too much? – of Rocket’s history via flashback and how he came to be. While a lot of this is emotional and builds his characters, the other characters – including the “new” Gamora (Saldana) – somehow seem to not have as much to do, or somehow just a little off. The “bad guy” they’re out to defeat is The High Evolutionary (Iwuji), who has undefined powers, but needless to say, likes experimenting on animals trying to perfect evolution.

There’s some cameos, another good soundtrack (including a nice call-back in the mid-credits scene), top-notch CGI and some funny moments throughout. But for all the good moments, they’re almost balanced with not-quite-right parts – the melancholy version of Radiohead’s Creep that sets an odd tone, Rocket’s whole arc, the organic space station, the High Evolutionary’s mask, Gamora’s character, Warlock’s near pointlessness and the inevitable ending. It’s not that it’s bad or that they don’t work, it’s just a lot darker and less exuberant than the other two films.

Overall: Bit of a different adventure to conclude the trilogy

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

A Good Person

Official Australian release date: 20/4/23. Viewed: 25/4/23.
Director: Zach Braff
Actors: Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Celste O’Connor, Chinaza Uche
Genre: Drama
Rating: MA

‘A Good Person’ is Zach Braff’s fourth film as director, and for mine, his best yet (yes, even better than ‘Garden State’). As much as I like him, his films might be better without him in them! This is a well-written and superbly-acted investigation of grief and love. Allison (Pugh) and Nathan (Uche) are engaged when tragedy strikes, leaving Allie addicted to painkillers. What follows is the story of how each cope with their grief.

The acting is exceptional across the board – Nathan’s Dad, Daniel (Freeman), niece Ryan (O’Connor), Allison’s Mum, Dianne (Shannon) and sponsor, Simone (Lister-Jones). All have significant roles in how they interact with Pugh, who puts on a masterclass, at times trying to be brave, others completely at a loss – and you feel it all with her. I think she’ll be around for a long, long time. Even her songs are good!

The score overall is solid, and New Jersey serves as a nice setting, with some New York thrown in, as is always the case. This is certainly not a typical romantic drama, or “sad film”, with plenty of moments of humour, as well as some subtle warnings about drug-use and using phones while driving. Pacing is good and it’s not too long. But it’s a story of love and forgiveness at it’s heart and does an exceptional job of making you care about Allison and Daniel in particular. Certainly not many dry eyes in the theatre at the end!

Overall: Excellent story of grief and humanity

Gav's Rating: 4 stars

 

Air

Official Australian release date: 5/4/23. Viewed: 7/4/23.
Director: Ben Affleck
Actors: Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, Ben Affleck
Genre: Drama
Rating: M

‘Air’ (as in “Air Jordan” shoes) is Ben Affleck’s 5^th time directing, and while not as good as ‘Gone Baby Gone’, it’s slightly better than ‘The Town’ and ‘Argo’, and certainly better than ‘Live by Night’. In my opinion, he’s a far better director than he is an actor. Which is good, because he has an important role as Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, but too much screentime. The main star here is Sonny (Damon), who’s Nike basketball talent scout, and works with Rob (Bateman, mostly-serious), Howard (Tucker, good to see him back) and Peter (Maher) in Nike’s Portland headquarters in the mid-1980s.

Together, they set out to make something of Nike’s floundering basketball division, with all their revenue coming from selling running shoes, and being out-performed by Converse and Adidas. While Michael Jordan is central to the story, they specifically don’t show him at all, as this is the start of his journey to super-stardom – he’s represented by his mum, Deloris (Davis, always great), dad (Tennon) and agent David (Messina).

While it’s about negotiating a deal, that’s not the only focus, with most emphasis on Sonny and his relationships with his bosses, Jordan’s agent and parents and others in the real-world. Reminds me a bit of Damon’s performance in ‘Ford v Ferrari’ and how the film brings to life the passion and drama behind professional sports. It’s serves as a good companion piece to ‘The Last Dance’. Some good moments of levity – including the ending – some good 80s songs, some touching moments and all over in under 2 hours.

Overall: Solid acting, directing and writing make a film about a shoe interesting

Gav's Rating: 4 stars

John Wick: Chapter 4

Official Australian release date: 23/3/23. Viewed: 30/3/23.
Director: Chad Stahelski
Actors: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Ian McShane
Genre: Action
Rating: MA

‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is perhaps an unexpected fourth film in this franchise, which seems to be getting increasingly longer (2 hours 45min this time), but this film ups the ante on everything. The plot is pretty simple – John (Reeves) wants to stop being hunted by assassins from the “High Table”, so sets out to kill the Marquis (Skarsgard, dodgy French accent), with some help from Winston (McShane) & Bowery King (Fishburne) as in previous films. Then there’s the ambiguous presence of fellow assassins Caine (Yen, great as always) and Nobody (Anderson, good newcomer) who have solid arcs.

It’s pretty impressive they’ve made four of these films in 10 years, when you take covid into account. The film sets the scene a little, then gets right down to business – Wick & his bulletproof suit killing plenty of “bad guys”. I lost count, but would guess it’s over 250 in the entire film, with over 100 to Wick! You pay to see action, and this film certainly delivers. The series now seems to be in a comfortable place with reality suspended – especially the Arc de Triomphe scene. There’s a lack of police, the “magic” suits, no one shooting Wick in the head for some reason – where he’s become a mix of The Punisher (shoots lots & lots of people, revenge in key driver), Wolverine (doesn’t seem to ever die, can use a sword) & James Bond (the suit, good at all forms of combat).

While long, the pacing is good, with enough breathers to keep it interesting. The whole assassin underworld thing is tenuous at best, but doesn’t weigh it down too much. There’s plenty of visually stunning shots and great use of colour, a good score and some exceptional fight scenes, including a long aerial shot in an abandoned building. There’s plenty of great moments where you either chuckle, groan or cheer.

Overall: Really delivers on the action and kill-count

Gav's Rating: 4 stars

65

Official Australian release date: 9/3/23. Viewed: 10/3/23.
Directors: Scott Beck & Bryan Woods
Actors: Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, Chloe Coleman, Nika King
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

 

‘65’ is a dinosaur film with a twist. It’s just a shame the twist doesn’t really add much to the overall film. Mills (Driver) is essentially the only actor, with his daughter Nevine (Coleman) and wife (King) appearing at the start – and Nevine in a few holograms/flashbacks – but then the only other actor being Koa (Greenblatt) who becomes almost a surrogate daughter when they’re stranded.

Not sure if it’s a spoiler or not, but Mills is piloting a spaceship from some other galaxy and crash-lands on Earth – it just so happens to be 65 million years ago and just as the asteroid is approaching Earth. This sets up a situation with one man + futuristic tech vs dinosaurs. You just have to go with it. Instead of making it more a ‘Prey’ or ‘Predator’ situation, the film instead focuses on what’s happened to Mills’ daughter and Koa and trying to establish a human connection, when we really don’t care. Was a bit disappointed there were only 3 dinosaur sightings/interactions in the first 45min.

Some good cinematography, filmed mostly in the forests of Oregon & swamps of Louisiana. There’s some tension occasionally built, but for a short 90min film, there’s far too much time with nothing really happening. Driver’s fine, but I’m not sure having a young child speaking a foreign language as his only co-star helped him. The ending is a bit ridiculous, but at least we see a few more dinos in the 2^nd half, but not enough to make this rewatchable.

Overall: Lots of potential, not enough dinosaurs

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars. 

Living

Official Australian release date: 16/3/23. Viewed: 5/3/23.
Director: Oliver Hermanus
Actors: Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp, Adrian Rawlins
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG

 

 

‘Living’ is a quick, uncomplicated little time capsule of a film. Set in 1953, it follows Mr Williams (Nighy) and his team of bureaucrats working for London Council – new recruit Peter Wakeling (Sharp), Mr Middleton (Rawlins), Mr Hart (Chris), Mr Rusbridger (Burton) and Ms Harris (Lou Wood). There we see the uprightness, formality and disguised politeness that is hard to fathom nowadays.

When Williams learns he has cancer, he struggles with how to respond and how to tell his son, Michael (Fishwick). Instead, he confides in Ms Harris and Mr Wakeling as he tries to find purpose. There’s no debauchery or anything sinister – just a good, boring man, realising that he is a boring old man and trying to make something of what time he has left.

Minimal score, great set/costume design – very authentic 1950s feel – and all wrapped up in under 100min, this is a very refined and assured film, with nothing spectacular happening, but a well-told story nonetheless (noting I haven’t seen Kurosawa’s ‘Ikiru’ yet). Nighy is understated and a pleasure to watch (and listen to) and the rest of the cast lend able support.

Overall: Finding dignity in the mundane

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.