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.

The Lego Ninjago Movie (September 2017)

Official Australian release date: 21/9/17. Viewed: 24/9/17.

Directors: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, Bob Logan

Actors: Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Jackie Chan, Michael Pena  

Genre: Animation / Comedy / Adventure

Rating: PG

‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’ is the third Lego film and while still good silly fun, it’s not as good as 2014’s original ‘The Lego Movie’. It’s definitely not bad, but seems to lack a little something – possibly due to their being three directors and nine(!) writers. Not sure why a straightforward kids’ movie needs so many cooks… I should also say that I’ve never watched the TV show, so have no background, other than having played with ninja Legos as a kid! Plot’s simple – Garmadon (Theroux) keeps trying to take over their island, so a group of ninjas fight him to protect it.

The ‘twist’ is that Garmadon’s estranged son, Lloyd (Franco) is the green ninja, leader of the Secret Ninjago Force. Along with fire ninja (Pena), ice ninja (Woods), lightning ninja (Nanjiani), earth ninja (Armisen) & water ninja (Jacobson), the six of them are trained by Master Wu (Chan). The all have awesome robot-things to fight Garmadon’s army (hilarious to see the actual Lego sharks that used to come with pirate sets!), but when a ‘monster’ is let loose in the city, they have to go on a journey of self discovery to save the island.

Obviously some father–son moments, but Jackie Chan is great as the narrator and Mr Miyagi figure. As with the other two Lego films, the best bits are the adult-oriented quips that go over the kids heads – the goat bit springs to mind! The best gag is a recurring one where Garmadon refers to his son as “La-loyd” – great point, why is there two ‘L’s in Lloyd? Really poor pop soundtrack and it did drag for a bit in the middle, but a satisfactory ending, with enough colour, action and jokes to make it enjoyable.

Overall: Fun & great for kids, but not earth-shattering.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (September 2017)

Official Australian release date: 21/9/17. Viewed: 23/9/17.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Actors: Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Julianne Moore

Genre: Action / Comedy

Rating: MA

‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ is a more-than-adequate sequel to 2015’s ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’. It has as much – or possibly more – action, gun battles, explosions and spinning-camera shots. The star is, once again, Eggsy (Egerton), who’s the still humble but now more sophisticated secret agent, and his trusty sidekick, Merlin (Strong) who brings plenty of class and exposition. This time, the ‘baddie’ is Poppy (Moore), a drug kingpin who blackmails the US President to make all drugs legal so she can become legitimately rich and famous – she has fun with it & is almost as over-the-top as Samuel L Jackson was!

There’s still plenty of Bond elements – suits, jet-setting, martini’s, spy gadgets – but it’s all done 75% more hyper and with 100% more tongue-in-cheek. Forced on the run from the UK, Eggsy & Merlin seek refuge with “Statesman”, their US counterpart, where Champ (Bridges), Ginger (Berry), Whiskey (Pascal) & Tequila (Tatum) come into it. Bridges, Berry & Tatum barely have five scenes between them, but Pascal is good and Harry (Firth) is reintroduced here (through very dubious means!) Elton John has more scenes and is hilarious – an excellent cameo choice, and a fight set to ‘Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting’ is superb. Tilde (Alstrom) is back as the girlfriend and gets a few good moments.

There’s plenty of humour and jokes throughout, and I found myself smiling more often than not. It’s probably a bit longer than necessary (140min) and has some slow points – and lots of dumb/unbelievable scenarios – but that’s half the fun! The action and comedy are balanced well again – still in for the third film!

Overall: Another enjoyable spy romp.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

It (September 2017)

Official Australian release date: 7/9/17. Viewed: 10/9/17.

Director: Andy Muschietti

Actors: Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Bill Skarsgard

Genre: Horror / Drama

Rating: MA

‘It’ is the “killer clown” horror film, based on Stephen King’s novel. It’s set in Derry, Maine in 1989, and kids keep going missing – including Bill (Lieberher)’s brother, Georgie (Scott). Bill and his “loser” friends – Richie (Wolfhand), Eddie (Grazer), Stanley (Oleff), Mike (Jacobs) & Ben (Taylor) – go searching for Georgie in their summer break, thinking he might be in the sewers. Of course, we’re introduced to Pennywise the clown (Skarsgard) before the titles, so we know what happened to Georgie.

If you don’t like clowns – this films not going to cure that! However, I didn’t find it really frightening, with some jumps (mostly thanks to the score), but not too much that it truly horrific or ultra-creepy. Sure, there’s some blood, some teeth, plenty of shadows and things popping up, but it never really felt to me like the kids were in too much danger. What is excellently conveyed is the apathy and “off”-ness of the adults, meaning it’s all up to Bill & the gang to figure out.

Ben figures out the “every 27 years” connection and Beth (Lillis) gets involved, after they’ve each encountered their worst fears and Pennywise. The film’s a great ode to friendship and sticking together – I just feel like it’s done better in ‘Stranger Things’, which is why it’s a shame Wolfhand is in both. This film is probably a bit longer than necessary, but has a good late-80s soundtrack and is better than the 1990 version. I’d say watch it – so long as you’re over 13…

Overall: Above-average horror/thriller.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Wind River (September 2017)

fficial Australian release date: 10/8/17. Viewed: 9/9/17.

Director: Taylor Sheridan

Actors: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Graham Greene, Kelsey Asbille

Genre: Mystery / Drama

Rating: MA

‘Wind River’ is from the writer of ‘Sicario’ & ‘Hell or High Water’, but is only Sheridan’s second directorial effort, which makes it all the more impressive. It’s a really simple plot – a Native American teenager is found dead, by Lambert (Renner) in the Wind River reservation and Banner (Olsen) is the FBI agent assigned to solve the case. Lambert is a tracker and hunter ad knows the terrain, so helps local cop Ben (Greene) and Banner in the snowy mountains.

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis bring their sparse, ‘Skeleton Tree’-like sounds to the score and soundtrack, and it definitely helps set the mood and highlight the sparseness of the northern Winter (or Spring, technically). The film moves along quite rapidly, with the investigation never boring, but still time to build plenty of backstory for Lambert and the reservation.

The final 20min or so is handled really well, with a few surprises thrown in. Similar to the Australian-set ‘Goldstone’ in some ways. It all looks beautiful (odd that it was filmed in Utah, not in the real-life reservation in Wyoming), with plenty of nice scenic and animal shots, but also plenty of sadness. Renner and Olsen carry the film with nuanced performances, and there’s thankfully no romantic distractions. It’s just a great, straightforward crime-solving scenario, done right.

Overall: Really well-made murder mystery.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard (September 2017)

Official Australian release date: 31/8/17. Viewed: 2/9/17.

Director: Patrick Hughes

Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, Gary Oldman, Elodie Yung

Genre: Action / Comedy

Rating: MA

‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ has been marketed as a parody of Costner/Houston’s ‘The Bodyguard’ from 25 years ago – but having never seen that, I can’t compare. It is a pretty straightforward action/comedy, probably more like ‘RED’. Plot is very simple – a Belarusian dictator (Oldman) is being tried at The Hague and Interpol need evidence from a hitman he tried to hire, Kincaid (Jackson). Thanks to Agent Roussel (Yung), Bryce (Reynolds) is assigned with getting him safely from England to Holland.

There’s a bit of unnecessary backstory about Bryce’s bodyguard business, and some serious moment with him & Roussel, but the film’s at its best when it’s just Reynolds & Jackson on screen, bantering back and forth with at each other. Sure, there’s plenty of gunfights, explosions, some Bourne-like stunts and actually a surprisingly high body count, but you never feel like much is at stake and wish they’d focused more on the humour than the action.

It’s clear Jackson is having a ball and it’s great to see him laugh genuinely. Reynolds is serviceable, but plays the straight guy, and it’s always fun to watch Oldman as the villain. Great cameo from Hayek too. This might almost set the record for the most Jackson “mother-f***er”s uttered in a film too! Nothing new, no truly hilarious moments, but fun enough.

Overall: Passable shoot-em-up comedy.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.