The Wandering Earth II

Official Australian release date: 22/1/23. Viewed: 28/1/23.
Director: Frant Gwo
Actors: Jing Wu, Zhi Wang, Andy Lau, Yanmanzi Zhu
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: M

 

 

‘The Wandering Earth II’ is a prequel to the Chinese sci-fi film, that comes almost 4 years to the day after the original. I didn’t even know they were making another, so this was a nice surprise. I’ll certainly look forward to a third one! This shows the planet-wide cooperation/politics needed to deal with the impending disaster of the sun imploding and takes place over number of decades from the 2030s-2070s. The plot remains similar to the first, showing the engineering problems humanity is trying to overcome to literally move the Earth and the moon.

There’s a few key character groups and storylines we follow, with perhaps the most confusing centring on 505A/W, which is an AI reminiscent of HAL from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, but it does set the scene for sequels. The story there follows Tu Yuheng (Lau), his daughter and Ma Zhao (Ning). The other plot follows Hao Xiaoxi (Zhu) and the politics between the countries. Then there’s Liu Peiqiang (Wu) and Han Duoduo (Wang) and their astronaut journey/love story.

While some of it is very fast-paced and jumps a bit all-over-the-shop, in general, the scale of the CGI and action are thrilling and extremely well executed. Maybe slightly too long at 2 hours 45min, but there’s not too many dull moments and each new scene poses new challenges for the humans to overcome. Satisfying ending, with some touching moments near the end.

Overall: More hope-filled grand-scale sci-fi.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars. 

The Fabelmans

Official Australian release date: 5/1/23.
Viewed: 26/1/23.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Actors: Gabriel LaBelle, Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen
Genre: Drama / Biopic
Rating: M

 

‘The Fabelmans’ is the semi-biographical film of Steven Spielberg’s formative years, from ~8–18, in 1950s & 1960s New Jersey, Arizona and California. Spielberg is “Sammy” in the film, played by Zoryan as a young boy, then by LaBelle in his teenage years. We follow him growing up with his 3 sisters and being raised by parents Burt (Dano) & Mitzi (Williams). We get plenty of insight into the family’s life and it’s good to see Burt & Mitzi as actual characters with true limitations and motivations, rather than just as cliched mum & dad.

Some good cameos from Uncle Boris (Hirsch), Uncle Bennie (Rogen) and the famous director at the end. The film has some funny moments, but is primarily a family drama, following the ups and downs of a regular family, caught up in the start of the computer era, with Burt & Bennie working for GE & IBM. The sisters maybe don’t get as much time, as we follow Sammy starting to make 8mm films, but they feel real enough as characters.

The move to California as a high-schooler presents new challenges for Sammy, but the ending is satisfying and doesn’t take us all the way up to ‘Jaws’, but does show how he gets on the Hollywood path. Good performances all round, nothing too exceptional and possibly slightly too long, but enjoyable.

Overall: Well-made biopic from one of the masters

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars

 

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

Official Australian release date: 12/1/23.
Viewed: 8/1/23.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Actors: Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Hugh Grant, Josh Hartnett
Genre: Action / Comedy
Rating: M

‘Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre’ is the 5th time director Guy Ritchie has used Jason Statham in one of his films – and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! This is a pretty straight-forward spy-action-adventure, with a fair bit of comedy thrown in – closer to ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ than ‘Wrath of Man’. I’d say I liked it better than ‘The Gentlemen’, but not as much as ‘Snatch’. There is only minor introductions for Orson Fortune (Statham), Sarah (Plaza) and JJ (Malone) as the spy team working for Nathan (Elwes), before we’re off and running.

Not sure why the “Ruse de Guerre” suffix was needed, but it translates as a cunning war trick. I assume it also helps if there are to be sequels. The trick is that the team use actor Danny Francesco (Hartnett) as bait for billionaire arms-dealer Greg Simmonds (Grant), to track a stolen weapon. Most of the plot is quite formulaic, but Statham & Ritchie know how to stage action scenes and there’s plenty of exciting moments.

Hartnett plays spoiled actor well; Plaza has plenty of fun; Malone, Elwes and Statham are all solid; with Hugh Grant relishing the role, having even more fun than he did in ‘The Gentlemen’. Not too long, satisfying ending, noting too new, but a nice mix of comedy and action with a good cast.

Overall: Rewatchable popcorn spy fun

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Official Australian release date: 26/12/22.
Viewed: 31/12/22.
Director: Martin McDonagh
Actors: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Rating: M

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ is from director McDonagh, he of ‘In Bruges’, ‘Seven Psychopaths’ & ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ fame. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it as good as any of his previous films. It’s good to see Farrell & Gleeson back together again, as well as a predominately Irish cast playing Irish characters. The plot is simple – Colm (Gleeson) decides he doesn’t have time to be friends with Padraic (Farrell) anymore, so Padraic, his sister Siobhan (Condon) and another friend, Dominic (Keoghan), try to find out why.

Part of the problem is their isolation, living on the (fictional) island of Inisherin off the west coast of Ireland in the 1920s – there’s not much else to do or many other people to interact with! There are plenty of chuckles as the news spreads (via refreshing accents not often heard in Hollywood films) and Padraic tries to comprehend what his long-time friend is doing to him. The 1920s era means there’s no cars, electricity or large buildings, so the scenery (real-life islands of Inishmore, off the coast of Galway) and sunsets are stunning, almost their own character.

The acting’s great, particularly Condon, with Keoghan purposefully annoying, Farrell often bewildered and Gleeson adroit. While it’s a comedy, it’s very dark and bleak – definitely more of a black comedy or “dramedy” than anything laugh-out-loud. Definitely lots to enjoy, but the ending and overall plot left me gloomy, when I was hoping for a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Overall: Great-looking bleak comedy.

Gav’s Rating: 3 stars.

Top Gun: Maverick

Official Australian release date: 26/05/22.
Viewed: 13/12/22.
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Actors: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Monica Barbaro
Genre: Action / Drama
Rating: M

Whoops, forgot to do my ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ review! I didn’t particularly love or hate the original Top Gun and wasn’t sure it warranted a sequel, especially 36 years later, but this is pretty fun. The plot’s purposefully minimal – the U.S. Navy needs Pete/Maverick (Cruise) to train some new pilots to fight some unnamed foreign bad guys. Obviously, this requires him to sit in a cockpit and show them how it’s done.

The new pilots are Bradley/Rooster (Teller – the ‘Whiplash’ guy), Natasha/Phoenix (Barbaro), Jake/Hangman (Powell), Reuben/Payback (Ellis) and Bob (Pullman). The drama comes from Rooster being Goose’s son and the animosity that Maverick has created between them. There’s also solid cameos from love interest Penny (Connelly), Iceman (Kilmer) in one scene, and Warlock (Parnell) & Cyclone (Hamm) as the Navy bosses.

Cruise is as charismatic as ever, with lots of jaw-clenching and trying to do the right thing, his way. The “new recruits” are good and provide some energy to the plot, but the interplay between Rooster and Maverick drives everything. However, as with the original, the stars of the show are the aerial aerobatics performed by the F18s and other planes and the stunts/editing that makes it so fun to watch. Predictable, if a bit dumb ending, and it feels a lot quicker than 2 hours.

Overall: Enjoyable, plot-less joy-ride

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars.

 

Avatar: The Way of Water

Official Australian release date: 15/12/22.
Viewed: 20/12/22.
Director: James Cameron
Actors: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: M

 

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ (or Avatar 2) comes almost exactly 13 years after the original broke all box-office records. The film does well to simultaneously make it feel like you’ve never left Pandora, but also to remind you of the characters and catch you up on the new ones, including Jake Sully (Worthington) and Neytiri (Saldana)’s four kids – eldest son Neteyam (Flatters), Loak (Dalton), Kiri (Weaver) & little Tuk (Bliss). The explanation for Kiri being Grace (Weaver’s original character)’s daughter is not clear at all, but Colonel Quaritch (Lang) is back, with a far simpler explanation – he and his marine team were cloned on Earth and sent back in Navi Avatars.

Once we re-establish that humans are the worst and still trying to colonise Pandora and exploit it’s resources, Sully & Neytiri take their family away from the fighting to the coral atolls/islands of the Metkayina tribe, led by Tonowari (Curtis) & Ronal (Winslet). This creates some interesting dynamics, but also introduces a whole new underwater ecosystem for the camera to explore. Probably the most impressive thing about these films is how Cameron makes everything seem so real and all the creatures plausible – all seeming like slightly different evolutionary branches of Earth’s creatures. The ‘whales’ are particularly remarkable.

It's good to see a little comedy thrown in (& Aussies/Kiwis), with Jermaine Clement & Brendan Cowell. However, just when the film seems like it might be a repeat of the first, the second act turns it on it’s head and focus on the inter- and intra-family dynamics and has a narrower focus on how the ocean-dwelling Navi interact with their environment. This serves the film well, as rather than try to fight every human colonist and machine, it is more intimate and you get to care for the main characters by the end. Bring on the next 3!

Overall: Still visually stunning, with a good story

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars.

The Menu

Official Australian release date: 24/11/22.
Viewed: 4/12/22.
Director: Mark Mylod
Actors: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau
Genre: Thriller / Comedy
Rating: MA

 

 

‘The Menu’ is a biting satire on the modern infatuation with food fetishisation. The premise is simple – Tyler (Hoult), Margot (Taylor-Joy) and an exclusive group – including food critics Lillian (McTeer) & Ted (Adelstein) + actor Leguizamo & partner Felicity (Carrero) + millionaire Richard (Birney) & Anne (Light) + 3 frat-boys – pay an exorbitant fee to get a boat to a secluded island (off the coast of Georgia) where a famous chef (Fiennes), maître de Elsa (Chau) and their team cook them a degustation dinner.

After 30min of getting to know the characters and wondering how similar this was going to be to ‘The Trip’, it takes a left-turn and almost does a ‘Get Out’. It’s funny to see how each character reacts to the events, and while they’re often absurd, you wonder what you would do in the same situation…

It’s definitely not a full-on horror film, or an outright comedy, but strikes a nice black-comedy balance, carried primarily by Fiennes & Taylor-Joy, with all the others adding something to the mix. Each twist is not quite what you expect and the ending is great fun. Lots of “why?”s, but also – why not? The less you know going in, the better!

Overall: Fun, sly and engaging

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars.