Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 2016)

Official Australian release date: 24/3/16. Viewed: 25/3/16.

Director: Zack Snyder

Actors: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Gal Godot

Genre: Action / Fantasy

Rating: M     

‘Batman v Superman’s main aim is to set up the two Justice League films coming out in the next three years and combat Marvel’s dominance of superhero films. It has the tough job of reintroducing/shoehorning a new Batman (Affleck) into the ‘Man of Steel’ world (even though the tone’s darker, like Nolan’s Batman films), with Bruce Wayne driving around Metropolis during Superman (Cavill)’s big fight with General Zod from the previous film. Why? Not sure – he just appears reckless. We also have to see Batman’s parents die again – must be at least the third time on film…

The film tries to blend together two popular graphic novels – ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ from the late 80s and ‘The Death of Superman’ from the early 90s – with varying degrees of success. I wish it had more of the former, but it instead almost makes Lois (Adams) the main star and puts her in the middle of everything. There’s heaps of political manoeuvring and “is Superman a risk or not?” with Lex (Eisenberg) and a Senator Finch (Hunter), but it all takes 90min to set up and there’s finally a pay-off, but it leaves a lot of action that needs to be squeezed into the final hour.

I didn’t like that Gotham was right across the harbour from Metropolis (a la San Francisco & Oakland), rather than hundreds of kilometres distant as it’s supposed to be. Batman has a few too many dreams/visions for my liking… However, the score’s great, Irons was good as Alfred, but underused, as is Perry (Fishburne). FYI, there’s no after credit scene, so don’t bother sitting through the extra 5min! When they get to the big Doomsday battle at the end, and Wonder Woman (Godot) joins in, it is pretty exciting and eventful. A good film, just not spectacular.

Overall: Decent start to the Justice League franchise.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars. 

Hail, Caesar! (February 2016)

Official Australian release date: 25/2/16. Viewed: 27/2/16.

Director: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

Actors: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Channing Tatum

Genre: Comedy

Rating: PG     

The premise for ‘Hail, Caesar!’ sounds more “meta” than it is – a film studio in the 1950’s making a Roman/Jesus epic called ‘Hail Caesar’ and starring Whitlock (Clooney), the biggest Hollywood star. The film works as a tribute to classic movie-making, with Brolin playing Mannix, the head of “Capitol Studios”, trying to keep his sometime wayward stars in check.

The film nails the choreography and massive scale the soundstages had, especially with Johansson’s mermaid scene and Tatum’s tap-dancing sailor scene. Surprise – he can also sing! Probably the funniest moment is new guy Doyle (Ehrenreich)’s cowboy scene and stunts. Unfortunately, there’s no real plot other than Clooney getting kidnapped by kind Communists – doesn’t really go anywhere.

Fiennes, Johansson, Hill, Tatum & McDormand all don’t have enough screen time. The score is good and there’s some jokes, although most of them are more like a sly wink to the audience – definitely not the Coen’s best work! The score’s good and Clooney and Tatum both ham it up, but I definitely felt underwhelmed afterwards.

Overall: OK – just not too much substance.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars. 

Deadpool (February 2016)

Official Australian release date: 11/2/16. Viewed: 11/2/16.

Director: Tim Miller

Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller

Genre: Comedy / Action

Rating: MA     

‘Deadpool’ is this year’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ – a non-mainstream Marvel film with offbeat humour that’s really well made. And the soundtrack’s good, but not as excellent as the aforementioned film. Deadpool’s story is a simple one, really – mostly because it’s pretty much identical to Wolverine’s origin story: ex-soldier thinks he’s not a hero, even though he helps others, gets experimented on and turned into a freak, tries to win back his loved one. That being said – this is much better than ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, and even ‘The Wolverine’. Still, there’s a few throwbacks to the former, which featured Reynolds as a non-masked Deadpool, and a few nice winks to Hugh Jackman.

The film starts excellently, with a fantastic super slow-motion shot, and has the funniest titles sequence I think I’ve ever seen. The film then does a good job of flashing back to fill us in on how Wade Wilson (Reynolds) became Deadpool – helped by some appropriate fourth-wall breaking. We’re introduced to Vanessa (Baccarin – who looks a lot like Famke Janssen [Jean] from the original ‘X-Men’), the love of his life, and Weasel (Miller) his best friend. They both play good supporting parts, particularly some of Miller’s lines which are dryly hilarious. It’s also good to see Marvel try to take back some of their X-Men characters from Fox (which is acknowledged with tongue in cheek), with Colossus (Kapicic) being portrayed excellently – a naive Russian with a pure heart, trying to get Deadpool to join the X-Men. He’s helped by the new character, Negasonic (Hildebrand) – and the taxi-driver (Soni) in two great scenes.

The bad guys, Francis (Skrein) & Angel (Carano), are adequate and move the plot along. The ending’s good and I hope they make more, because the fight scenes are done excellently, the humour and jokes are 100% adult-only and totally fitting. Reynolds nails it as the ‘Merc with a mouth’, with great timing and nuance from under his mask, and he does a great job of not being the pretty-boy when needed. This film makes me hope they get around to doing a Gambit film at some stage – and I’m now interested to see how ‘Doctor Strange’ turns out later in the year…

Overall: Fun, bloody and funny – could be the Marvel film of the year!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars. 

Zoolander 2 (February 2016)

Official Australian release date: 11/2/16. Viewed: 7/2/16.

Director: Ben Stiller

Actors: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penelope Cruz

Genre: Comedy

Rating: M     

‘Zoolander 2’ is the long (15 years!) anticipated sequel to the endlessly quotable original fashion satire. Derek (Stiller) has become a “hermit crab” recluse after a quickly-explained tragedy occurred in 2001. Likewise, Hansel (Wilson) is living a nomadic life with his 11-person harem-esque “orgy”. There’s plenty of sight gags & cameos right from the start. The film opens with a Bond-style car/foot chase through Rome, with the joke being that it’s Justin Bieber and there’s a criminal organisation going around killing pop stars. He’s a good sport, getting shot by literally 100’s of bullets! This brings Derek & Hansel to Rome to come out of their hibernation.

Valentina (Cruz) from Interpol steps in to protect them/find Derek’s long-lost son, Derek Jr (Arnold). She looks fantastic (@ 41) in her red leather suit and later in her swimsuit, lamenting her “annoying, plus-size naturals” that kept her from being a ‘proper’ model! After appearing in Alexanya Atoz (Wiig – looking likely what Miley Cyrus will look like in 15 years!) and Don Atari (Mooney – super annoying)’s fashion show and getting ridiculed, they uncover that Mugatu (Ferrell) is behind everything from his prison cell. It then turns into a bit of a Bond film, with a lava pit involved!

If you’re watching this hoping for some cerebral comedy, you’re in the wrong place. There’s heaps of dumb jokes (most involving mispronunciation), dozens of cameos (Zane, Sutherland, Cumerbatch, Armisen, Sarandon, Sting, Perry, Nelson, Moss, deGrasse Tyson) and plenty of Blue Steel/Magnum’s from everyone – but it is, at heart, a comedy lambasting the superficiality and stupidness of modelling and fashion. Definitely not as good as the original, but whenever Stiller, Wilson & Ferrell are on screen together, there’s going to be laughs. It’s really well-paced – never gets boring – and has consistent chuckles, with a few great moments.

Overall: Silly, easy fun.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.   

The Hateful Eight (January 2016)

Official Australian release date: 21/1/16. Viewed: 21/1/16.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Genre: Drama / Mystery

Rating: R    

Much like ‘Spotlight’ and ‘The Big Short’ will be linked, ‘The Hateful Eight’ and ‘The Revenant’ will be linked in my mind, due to the fact that they’re both set in 19th century wintry American Northwest (this time Wyoming), both nominated for Oscars (although 3 vs 12, with the only overlap being cinematography – probably have to go to ‘The Revenant’ instead) and both released in January. And while they’re similar – and both pretty good – neither is definitely better than the other, and neither is quite as great as it could have been.

This is, obviously, Tarantino’s 8th film, but it annoyed me that for the majority of the film, there’s nine people trapped in the cabin, even though the posters and title refer to the eight of them! O.B. (Parks – 4th Tarantino film), the stagecoach driver, doesn’t rate a mention? He has some of the funniest moments in the film! Only Tarantino can have a film starring ‘eight’ characters and end up with 14 bodies, with some characters still alive at the end! The eight main characters are:

     - Marquis Warren (Jackson – 6th Tarantino film), former Yankee Major, now bounty hunter;

     - John Ruth (Russell – 2nd Tarantino film), a bounty hunter with a great moustache;

     - Daisy Domergue (Jason Leigh – 1st Tarantino film), Ruth’s bounty he’s taking to hang;

     - Chris Mannix (Goggins – 2nd Tarantino film), the new Sheriff of Red Rock;

     - Oswaldo Mobray (Roth – 3rd Tarantino film), a British hangman;

     - Senor Bob (Bichir – 1st Tarantino film), the Mexican innkeeper;

     - Joe Gage (Madsen – 3rd Tarantino film), a raspy-voiced loner cowboy; and

     - Sandy Smithers (Dern – 2nd Tarantino film), former Confederate General.

Feels a little like Tarantino started with a joke: “a black war hero, a Mexican, an Englishman, a Kiwi and a racist walk into a bar...” and went from there! Once all eight are trapped in Minnie’s Haberdashery due to the blizzard, the mystery of who’s who – and where Minnie is – is slowly uncovered, with trust in short supply. Starts very slow – particularly the titles, with Tarantino using his classic colouring and sound to show everyone involved in the film before it can properly start. It’s long (2 hours 45min), but not ridiculously so – however, you could probably take out 30min from the start/middle and have a better-paced film. Morricone’s score is good, and the cinematography looks great when they’re out in the mountains and snow, but over 75% of the film is shot inside the cabin, where it’s dark!

Takes a while to really get going, but once it does, there’s plenty of blood (hence the R-rating), as the truth is uncovered. Jackson is great and the main star, while Russell does a fantastic John Wayne impersonation – his voice cadence and over-bearing attitude are spot on –  and Jason Leigh is fun to watch as the vile and racist criminal. The real stand-out, though, is Goggins as the seemingly inept Sheriff – he plays his part with clear relish and gets a few laughs and gets to show some heart underneath his racist exterior. While ‘The Hateful Eight’ is very enjoyable in parts, I didn’t enjoy it anywhere as much as ‘Django Unchained’ or ‘Inglorious Basterds’.

Overall: A little long and overwrought, but still a good Western/’whodunit’.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.   

Spotlight (January 2016)

Official Australian release date: 28/1/16. Viewed: 19/1/16.

Director: Tom McCarthy

Actors: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber

Genre: Drama

Rating: M     

‘Spotlight’ and ‘The Big Short’ will forever be linked, which speaks to their quality – both based on true stories that effected lots of people, both great dramas, both Oscar-nominated films out within weeks of each other. ‘Spotlight’ has some laughs, but not as many as ‘The Big Short’, mostly due to the dark nature of the material – the uncovering of Catholic priests molesting and raping young children, for over four decades.

The Boston Globe investigative journalism team (“Spotlight”) – from when newspapers were still relevant, in 2001 – consisting of Mike (Ruffalo), Sacha (McAdams), Matt (d’Arcy James) and their editor, Robby (Keaton) are tasked with finding out if an accused priest is in fact guilty of child molestation. This comes about when their bosses, Marty (Schreiber, still looking like Sabretooth) – new at the newspaper – & Ben (Slattery) try to shake things up when they smell a cover up. It turns out there’s far more than one priest and one victim – some of the true stories told by the victims as the reporters uncover the facts are truly horrendous and gut-wrenching. Definitely not easy to hear, as you know it has happened in real life, and probably hundreds of thousands of times over the last century.

How Ruffalo is only up for Best Supporting Actor, and not Best Actor, is past me! McAdams, on the other hand, is not that utilised – both due to the ensemble cast, I guess. Keaton and Schreiber are good, as is Tucci as the crusading small-time lawyer, but Ruffalo really steals the show, with his heart on the line and it shows in his performance. It’s really a great film about newspaper reporting, but is told so well and deals with such an important topic that it is actually enjoyable to watch everyone excel – including director McCarthy, who already has form with ‘Win Win’. Certainly not “fun”, but a great film.

Overall: Extremely well done – probably wins Best Picture Oscar.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.   

The Big Short (January 2016)

Official Australian release date: 14/1/16. Viewed: 16/1/16.

Director: Adam McKay

Actors: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt

Genre: Drama

Rating: M     

Based on the true story of how the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) came about from 2005–2008, ‘The Big Short’ tells the story really well by mixing humour, facts (delivered in an unconventional way by celebrities) and following four tenuously-linked groups who have skin in the game. Vennett (Gosling) introduces us at the start of 2005, via a unique fourth-wall-breaking monologue, placing the players on the field – I’m using this terminology, as most of the film (and Wall Street in general) can be likened to gambling. It may sound boring on the surface – a film about banking and finance – but it does a great job of explaining the terminology in simple terms, whilst not being condescending about it.

The groups involved are Burry (Bale), a fund manager and prodigy of sorts, who first sees the housing bubble and notices that the big banks have been over-valuing mortgages (sub-prime). Baum (Carell) and his small company are offered the opportunity to “short” the banks’ mortgages by Vennett. Geller (Magaro) & Shipley (Wittrock), two young entrepreneurs, who seek help from their mentor, retired Wall St mogul Rickert (Pitt) also pick up on what’ happening and get in on the action. It’s great to see the banks gleefully taking their money, being so cocky and greedy, only to have it all blow up in their faces two years later.

I think Carell, not Bale, should have been Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor! Baum serves as the film’s moral centre and calls everyone on their fraudulent behaviour. The film almost acts as a documentary when it delves down to the individual family level and makes you truly realise how little these large corporations care for other humans. The most bittersweet part is the ending – “and then the crooks went to jail, Congress brought in reform and the fraudulent system was overhauled – just joking! They didn’t go to jail, Congress was lobbied so no reform was passed and the big banks were bailed out by the taxpayers” – funny, sad, and true. Really makes you think, but is also a well-made film with excellent acting.

Overall: Great film – energetic and interesting.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.