Hunt for the Wilderpeople (May 2016)

Official Australian release date: 26/5/16. Viewed: 24/5/16.

Director: Taika Waititi

Actors: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rachel House, Rhys Darby  

Genre: Comedy / Adventure

Rating: PG

From New Zealand’s best director, Waititi (‘Eagle Vs Shark’, ‘Boy’, ‘What We Do in the Shadows’), comes ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’, which is a title that doesn’t  make much sense, but when explained with kid logic, it does – “Wildebeest walk thousands of miles. Feels like we’ve walked that may too. That must make us Wilderpeople!” Simple premise – Ricky (Dennison) is an orphan adopted by Bella (Te Wiata) and Hector (Neill), but when Bella dies unexpectedly, Child Services want to put Ricky back in ‘juvie’, so he runs away into the bush, where Hector has to protect him.

There’s so many things to like about this film – the score is great, the little chapter subtitles keep the pace moving, the visuals are stunning (or “majestical”), being filmed on New Zealand’s north island, there’s plenty of great jokes/quips and, most importantly, there’s lots of heart. There’s some nice sentimental moments and some sad ones, handled equally as well as the comedy. The bond formed by Hector and Ricky isn’t forced or fake – it happens naturally and you become really attached to the characters, since it’s mostly the two of them throughout.

But there’s still some time for some good support cast – Paula (House) as the ‘Terminator’-like Child Services Officer hunting them down, Waititi himself as the priest and “Psycho” Sam (Darby). Probably my only criticism is that the film needed more Rhys Darby! It’s great to see Neill understated and slowly shed his shell, but the film belongs to Dennison – chirpy, optimistic in spite of his ordeals and genuinely funny.

Overall: This director and his stars certainly have the “knack” for a great film.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

X-Men: Apocalypse (May 2016)

Official Australian release date: 19/5/16. Viewed: 21/5/16.

Director: Bryan Singer

Actors: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Lawrence

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is the sixth X-Men film and the final piece in the second trilogy (2011–2016), fitting in after ‘Days of Future Past’ and before ‘X-Men’ (2000). Although the time travel of the previous film does leave a somewhat altered “reality”, so it doesn’t necessarily all fit together nicely. Plot’s pretty simple – Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur (Isaac) is the first mutant, with the ability to collect other mutants’ powers, and he’s now been resurrected and wants to destroy the world so only the strong survive. Plenty of Nazi parallels, and they use Magneto (Fassbender) and his Jewish past to emphasize this.

Some of the films like repeating the same territory, as they have to re-establish the “new” characters: Jean (Turner), Cyclops (Sheridan), Havoc (Till), Nightcrawler (Smit-McPhee) and how they fit in with Xavier (McAvoy) and his school. I guess after the other two films, they needed Mystique (Lawrence), but I’m not sure why she needs to play such a big part. And Beast (Hoult) is mostly wasted, along with Apocalypse’s Horsemen – Storm (Shipp), Psylocke (Munn) & Angel (Hardy). Some great CGI and large-scale chaos shown, but also some nice soft-touch moments, particularly between Charles & Erik – something Singer did well in the original film. One of the best bits is near the end when they almost verbatim repeat something from the 2000 film – and there’s another nice tongue-in-cheek moment when they come out of seeing ‘Return of the Jedi’ (forgot to mention the film’s set in 1983!)

I loved Metallica’s ‘The Four Horsemen’ playing when Apocalypse turns Angel into the metal-winged Archangel, worked great for the scene. Quicksilver (Peters) – despite being dead in the ‘Avengers’ films and only 10 years younger than Fassbender – is a very welcome addition here and has some great moments, particularly the Eurythmics bit. It doesn’t follow any particular comic storyline completely, but borrows from a few, with only a few nods to the 1990s ‘Age of Apocalypse’. Magneto’s motivation could’ve been better, for me, but the scenes he and Xavier are in are always good. Issac is menacing but not too over-the-top as Apocalypse, but somehow, even with the world (slowly!) crumbling, it doesn’t all click quite as well as you feel it could. Definitely a worthy addition to the franchise, but still a shame they never reached the pinnacle set by the original X-Men film.  

Overall: Fitting finale.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Bad Neighbours 2 (May 2016)

Official Australian release date: 5/5/16. Viewed: 5/5/16.

Director: Nicholas Stoller

Actors: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Chloe Grace Moretz

Genre: Comedy

Rating: MA

‘Bad Neighbours 2’ (or ‘Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising’ in America) is a straightforward comedy sequel – all that’s changed is the frat next door is replaced with a sorority (one of the funnier scenes involves how to spell “sorority”!). Mac (Rogen) & Kelly (Byrne) are back – as are the cute twins who play their daughter, now two years older – and still at it (literally in the opening scene). Shelby (Moretz) plays the leader of the new sorority moving in next door, but they do take some time to build her character, along with Beth (Clemons) and Nora (Feldstein) and make them non-stereotypical teenage girls – for the most part.

There’s a fair bit that doesn’t work: still heaps of pot, most of it unnecessary, with Rogen must have written into his contracts or he won’t appear, the predictable ending, annoying party/crap music scene(s) and some swearing/jokes that don’t hit the mark. However, the majority of jokes – and pranks – are funny and do work.

There’s some feminism and pro-gay sentiment in there – and one great/terrible Jewish joke – but it’s not sentimental or anything. Never going to blow minds or be a game-changer, but a decent way to spend 90min. And plenty of shirtless Efron or the ladies!

Overall: Still a simple, fun comedy.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Captain America: Civil War (April 2016)

Official Australian release date: 28/4/16. Viewed: 28/4/16.

Director: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

Actors: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan

Genre: Action / Adventure

Rating: M   

‘Captain America 3’ is another great addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time, the film’s basically ‘Avengers 3’, as it features almost every superhero we’ve seen so far, plus a few new ones. Natasha/Black Widow (Johansson) continues her close association with Steve/Captain America (Evans) – which worked really well in the last film – but Cap also has Sam/Falcon (Mackie) as his right-hand man too. The premise is quite simple: the “Sokovia Accords” (instead of the “Superhuman Registration Act” from the 2006 Mark Millar comics the film’s based on) are new laws forced on the Avengers by Ross (Hurt), U.S. Secretary of State, as the U.N. wants to see the Avengers held accountable for their actions, since too many people died in (the fake country) Sokovia during the events of ‘Avengers 2’. Tony/Iron Man (Downey Jr.) is all for it, but Cap is not.

Bucky/Winter Soldier (Stan) then becomes involved and a massive man-hunt ensues (the film goes to more countries than a Bond film!) and the Avengers are divided (into an even six vs six): Iron Man, Black Widow, Rhodes/War Machine (Cheadle), T’Challa/Black Panther (Boseman), Vision (Bettany) and Peter/Spider-Man (Holland) vs Cap, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Wanda/Scarlet Witch (Olsen), Clint/Hawkeye (Renner) and Scott/Ant-Man (Rudd). The fight, about two-thirds in with only the Hulk and Thor missing, is epic – definitely something everyone wants to see. Some great quips too (mostly thanks to Ant-Man and Spider-Man – would love to see that team-up film!), as there’s no malevolence, just a group of superhero friends/acquaintances fighting for what (and who, as the film’s definitely Captain America v Iron Man at it’s heart) they think is right.

There could still be a little more done with Bucky’s backstory – which kind of get mixed in with Iron Man’s – but maybe I just need to re-watch ‘Captain America 1’ again, as it just seems like his & Cap’s chemistry isn’t quite there. Also needs to explore the Sharon Carter (VanCamp) storyline more. The introduction of Black Panther and Spider-Man is handled superbly, with Spider-Man only getting two scenes, but Holland nails them – the new Spider-Man films will be in good hands. And Boseman as Black Panther is fantastic, full of poise and just the right amount of anger – plus great fighting skills. Can’t wait for his film in a few years.

I thought it was better than ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, but not quite as good as ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. The ending probably dragged out a little and didn’t quite resolve everything, with Zemo (Bruhl)’s plot not being as interesting as it could’ve been. Still, some great action, some decent ethical questions and some truly inventive fight scenes.

Overall: Another strong Cap film. Bring on the Infinity War!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.  

The Jungle Book (April 2016)

Official Australian release date: 7/4/16. Viewed: 8/4/16.

Director: Jon Favreau

Actors: Neel Sethi, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Idris Elba

Genre: Adventure

Rating: PG    

‘The Jungle Book’ is the sixth (?) adaption of Kipling’s 120 year old story, probably best known to everyone from Disney’s 1960s version. This time it’s live-action – well, it’s not a cartoon, but has such great CGI animals you spend most of the time trying to figure out if they might be real! Pretty sure everyone knows the plot – a boy, Mowgli (Sethi) is abandoned in the jungle and raised by wolves/a panther, until a tiger comes to kill him. It’s a little longer and darker than the cartoon version, but it does do away with the nasty vultures.

It’s still a family/kids film at heart, but there’s definitely a few scares and proper tiger v bear/panther/wolves fights! Not sure I’d recommend anyone take a child under 8. The film does a great job of bringing the wolves – Raksha (Nyong’o) and Akela (Esposito) as Mowgli’s ‘mum’ & ‘dad’ – into the story more, as they’re his true family. Kingsley as Bagheera the panther is stately and perfectly cast – a great mentor for Mowgli. Like the cartoon, the main gripe I have is: where is this jungle? Africa? We see rhinos, armadillos and buffalo. India? Tigers and monkeys. South America? Panthers and pythons.

And then the bear – Baloo (Murray). Either way, Murray has some great lines, but seems a little underutilised… the one big letdown for me was the songs – the ‘Bare Necessities’ is sung nowhere near as well by Murray, and while Christopher Walken is suited to King Louie, he does a horrible version of ‘I Wanna Be Like You’. Regardless, the score is great, the scenery/CGI fantastic, Shere Khan (Elba) us very menacing and Favreau (coming off ‘Iron Man 2’ and ‘Chef’) keeps the pace up, while allowing some sentimental moments.

Overall: Enjoyable and good-looking family film

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars. 

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.