Occupation: Rainfall

Official Australian release date: 28/1/21. Viewed: 5/2/21.
Director: Luke Sparke
Actors: Dan Ewing, Jet Tranter, Lawrence Makoare, Daniel Gillies
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

‘Occupation: Rainfall’ is a sequel to the low-budget Australian-alien-invasion film from 2018 – but this time it’s bigger and better – in all respects. Returning from the first film, attempting to save Sydney, are Matt (Ewing), Amelia (Tranter, in place of Jacobsen), Marcus (Go) and Dennis (Gerred), who are joined again by Peter (Morrison) & Bella (Stevens) in the third act. This time, they’re helped by General Abraham (Roberts), Wing Commander Hayes (Gillies), Captain Wessex (Coles Smith) and Gary (Makoare), one of the ‘greys’. The film wastes no time is setting up where things are – the aliens have essentially destroyed most of the world, and only small pockets of resistance remain, such as Sydney. The survivors then evacuate to the Blue Mountains.

Director Sparke has a much bigger budget this time, and isn’t afraid to use it, with the aliens being a good mix of costumes and CGI, and the spaceships and air battles are really well done. This is definitely not a Hollywood film, but he does well to blend all the film’s inspirations – ‘Star Wars’, ‘Avatar’, ‘Predator’ – into a mostly-cohesive whole. At the film’s core is Matt – hero from the first film who despises the “maggots” – being forced to team up with “Gary”, one of the aliens who is now on the humans’ side. Gary is also the most well-rounded character – and gets some good fight scenes too!

As always with Aussie cinema, it’s good to see local scenery, although a bit of it is CGI-Sydney in ruins! Still the Blue Mountains look nice – but I’m not sure why it’s not snowing there if it is snowing where the small village is, presumably near Jindabyne. Near the end, Bud (Jeong) and Steve (Issacs, another alien) provide some comedic relief and a futile battle takes place, leaving everything set up for a third film. Doesn’t always hit the mark, some stilted dialogue, but a good score, some well-made battles, believable alien villains, a bigger question of “do humans deserve our planet?” and an undercurrent of “what would I do in this situation?”

Overall: Mostly fun, action-packed sci-fi.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars. 

The Dry

Official Australian release date: 1/1/21. Viewed: 6/1/21.
Director: Robert Connolly
Actors: Eric Bana, Genevive O’Reilly, Keir O’Donnell, John Polson
Genre: Drama / Mystery
Rating: MA

 

‘The Dry’ is a very well put together Australian murder-mystery (disclosure – I haven’t read the novel), set in north-western Victoria (in the fictional town of Kiewarra), where Aaron Falk (Bana), an AFP agent, returns to after 20 years, to attend the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke. This leads to him digging a bit further and uncovering things from this case and his past, with the help of Sergeant Raco (O’Donnell) and Scott (Polson), the school principal.

There’s well-placed flashbacks of Aaron, Luke, Ellie (Bettencourt) and Gretchen (O’Reilly) when they were teenagers. This is used as a great tool to contrast the change in the Australian environment, with the creeks now dry and the wheat fields replaced with dust, as well as the change in the fortunes of the four friends in adulthood.

This is a very well-paced and directed film, with a strong plot, good score, strong acting and great cinematography – as good as Connolly’s ‘Balibo’. I didn’t figure it out exactly until right near the end. Great to see Bana back in a great piece of Aussie cinema.

Overall: Assured crime mystery which keeps you engaged.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars. 

Wonder Woman 1984

Official Australian release date: 26/12/20. Viewed: 27/12/20.
Director: Patty Jenkins
Actors: Gal Gadot, Pedro Pascal, Kristen Wiig, Chris Pine
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi 
Rating: M

 

‘Wonder Woman 1984’/‘WW84’ is, like most sequels, fine without being exceptional. It is noteworthy for being my first time at the cinema in four months, and only the 11^th time this year, well down from the 33/year average! The film starts with an excellent Olympics-style challenge on Themyscira, with a pre-teen Diana against other Amazonian warriors. It’s exciting and fun and segues nicely into “modern day” Diana (Gadot) in action in a very-80s shopping centre.

We’re introduced to Barbara Minerva (Wiig) and Max Lord (Pascal), who are both solid supports and bring their own charms. While I admire the attempt to have no “big baddie” by having misguided/sort-of-well-intentioned characters instead, sometimes an outright villain is useful. Some of Pascal’s over-the-top-ness is fun to watch. The action scene is Cairo is good, as is how Wonder Woman gets there.

I guess the main issues are the length (2.5 hours), with plenty of slow scenes, the whole concept of Steve (Pine) coming back to life from essentially a magic lamp and the sometimes overbearing score. Gadot is good again, but it didn’t seem like she actually had that much to do for large parts of the film. Satisfactory ending and I hope they give her another solo film set before ‘Justice League’.

Overall: OK second outing, but nothing extraordinary. 

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars. 

Tenet

Official Australian release date: 27/8/20. Viewed: 22/8/20.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Actors: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi 
Rating: M

  

‘Tenet’ is great. And that’s not just because I finally saw a film in the cinema again! It’s definitely not a “time travel” movie – it’s a fast-paced, layered the-whole-world’s-at-stake spy film, with some added mind-bending “inversion” included. For mine, this is better than ‘Interstellar’ & ‘Dunkirk’, but not quite the greatness of ‘Inception’ or ‘The Prestige’. Still, Nolan’s bar is so high, and this ticks so many boxes.
 
The first 5min are so hectic and unrelenting, and rather than taking some time to pause and fill us in, the plot moves briskly as we follow the Protagonist (Washington – what a beard!) as he teams up with Neil (Pattinson) and are left to fill in some of the gaps – which I appreciate – rather than have them spoon fed to us. We then figure out how the villain (Branagh) – wish he had a better motivation – & his unwilling wife Kat (Debicki) fit in, as they do a Bond-esque globe-trotting – India, Estonia, Norway, England, Italy.
 
Reminds me of ‘Recursion’ (by Blake Crouch) which I just read, but still a very unique take on the spy genre. Action galore, car chases, high stakes, exceptional score, and some truly amazing cinematography. Some of the “inverse” fight scenes and car stunts are extraordinary. It’s all helped by how likeable and assured Washington is as the lead. Some of it’s a bit confusing, but there’s no time wasted getting into physics “what-ifs”. Long-ish at 2.5 hours, but it whips by.
 
Overall: Another masterpiece from the best director going round.
 

Gav's Rating: 4 stars. 

The Way Back

Official Australian release date: 5/3/20. Viewed: 7/3/20.

Director: Gavin O’Connor

Actors: Ben Affleck, Al Madrigal, Janina Gavankar, Brandon Wilson

Genre: Drama / Sport 

Rating: M

  

  

‘The Way Back’ (not to be confused with Peter Weir’s film of the same name from 2010) is a return to form for Ben Affleck, a former high school basketball prodigy who has fallen on hard times. Jack (Affleck) is a mostly-functioning alcoholic – which really hits home how it’s depicted – who is separated from wife Angela (Gavankar) and claiming all’s fine in his life.

Rather than show Jack as a young basketball star, the film starts with him at his lowest and slowly reveals what’s happened in his life over the past 5 years to change him. It gets quite touching. Jack finds a lifeline in coaching his old high school’s basketball team, with assistant coach Dan (Madrigal). They’re not quite a ragtag bunch of no-hopers, but they’re not far off – except for Brendon (Wilson). He has a nice little story arc.

After exploring why he didn’t go to college basketball/NBA, and not just focusing on the predictable winning montage, the film explores the effects of Jack’s actions on his wife, his coaching career and his friends. It’s certainly not a typical ‘Replacements’/‘Mighty Ducks’-style “sporting miracle” story, and it doesn’t necessarily have a happy or sad ending. Does well to contrast the Californian sun with the reality of some people’s lives. Worth it for Affleck’s well-balanced & semi-tortured acting.

Overall: Not overly original, but good emotional journey.  

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars. 

The Invisible Man

Official Australian release date: 27/2/20. Viewed: 3/3/20.

Director: Leigh Whannell

Actors: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer

Genre: Drama  

Rating: MA

  

  

‘The Invisible Man’ is probably about the 10^th remake of one of the original sci-fi/monster concepts, coming 87 years after the original film. Thankfully, it’s a very modern take, with no supernatural elements – just a well put together thriller. Cecilia (Moss) basically carries the film, and it starts with her escaping her controlling husband, Adrian (Jackson-Cohen), with the help of her sister, Emily (Dyer). She stays with their friend James (Hodge) and his daughter, Sydney (Reid), when she finds out that Adrian is dead.

With all apparently fine, things start to unravel, as Cecilia starts to believe Adrian is somehow stalking her from beyond the grave. Adrian’s brother, Tom (Dorman) assures Cecilia that Adrian’s dead. We’re left guessing, as we don’t get much insight into Adrian & Cecilia’s relationship or his motives, other than the fact he’s a Tony Stark-type rich inventor. This is where the idea of the invisibility coming from a high-tech suit is more plausible than supernatural powers.

After the great, almost-silent and very dark, start, the film establishes a good rhythm, until it kicks into overdrive for the final 30min or so. The tension, suspense and guessing “where is he?” throughout is handled really well, with it never getting too boring or predictable. There’s certainly a few really good jump scares! Better than ‘Hollow Man’, which I also liked, at least when it came out.

Overall: Enjoyable, suspenseful thriller re-imagining.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars. 

Bombshell

Official Australian release date: 16/1/20. Viewed: 5/2/20.

Director: Jay Roach

Actors: Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, John Lithgow

Genre: Drama  

Rating: M

  

  

‘Bombshell’ is a ‘based on a (recent) true story’ film, along the lines of ‘The Big Short’ (not too surprising, since it has the same writer) or ‘Spotlight’. But oddly, it’s from the director of ‘Austin Powers’, ‘Meet The Parents’ and ‘The Campaign’! Given the subject matter, it’s not really funny, but is still a gripping story. Megyn Kelly (Theron), Gretchen Carlson (Kidman) and Kayla Pospisil (Robbie) all work for Fox News in 2016, a workplace ripe with sexism, discrimination and harassment.

As the saying goes, “the fish rots from the head down” – in this case, Roger Ailes (Lithgow) is the head of Fox News and is initially accused by Gretchen for sexual harassment, setting in motion a chain of events which could go either way, as no other women initially come forward with similar stories. The scene with Ailes and Kayla is truly disturbing and hard to watch. Credit to Lithgow for making Ailes an almost-sympathetic character at times and not just an evil caricature. Robbie’s great as the naïve Kayla, Kidman’s good in her limited scenes, McKinnon is funny and nuanced as Kayla’s friend and Theron carries the film, especially as she grapples with what to do with her career on the line.  

An exceptional group of supporting actors make it interesting and fast-paced – Delany as Megyn’s producer, Britton as Ailes’ wife, Janney as the lawyer, Duplass as Megyn’s husband, Kind as Giuliani, Root as the other lawyer, McDowell as Rupert Murdoch, and Josh/Ben Lawson as James/Lachlan Murdoch. Certainly not a ‘fun’ film, but it’s well acted, filmed and put together. Ending could’ve used a little work, but is arguably still a work in progress even today.

Overall: Solid biopic with great cast.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.