Force of Nature: The Dry 2

Official Australian release date: 8/2/24. Viewed: 30/3/24.
Director: Robert Connolly
Actors: Eric Bana, Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness, Robin McLeavy
Genre: Drama / Mystery
Rating: M

‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’ comes 3 years after ‘The Dry’, and retains Detective Aaron Falk (Bana) as the lead and the flashbacks to fill in story gaps, but is otherwise a standalone film – it’s certainly not dry this time, set in the rainy Dandenong ranges of eastern Victoria. The plot this time sounds simple – 5 women on a work retreat get lost in the bush. When 4 of them are rescued, Falk and Cooper (McKenzie) set out to find the missing Alice (Torv).

As the backstory unfolds – told via each of the 4 women: Alice’s boss Jill (Furness), sister Lauren (McLeavy) and co-workers Bree (Ansell) & Beth (Stringer), we’re able to piece together that there’s more going on than anyone is initially letting on and start drawing our own conclusions. There’s also the added layer of flashback’s to Falk’s own childhood when he and his parents were camping in the same national park and had their own situation…

Probably not as good as the first film, but still a well-made Aussie drama, with lots of tension, hope, great scenery and enough storyline to keep you interested and guessing. Good cameos from Richard Roxburgh and Tony Briggs, but the film’s carried by Bana and the interaction of the 5 women and the ticking clock to find Alice before it’s too late. Not too long at just under 2 hours, solid score.

Overall: Enjoyable Aussie bush mystery.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Official Australian release date: 28/3/24. Viewed: 29/3/24.
Director: Adam Wingard
Actors: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ is the 5^th film in Warners Bros. “MonsterVerse”, and like all of them does a solid job of making giant Titans/Kaiju fight, with a bit of a storyline holding it together. Returning are Dr Andrews (Hall), head of the Titan-watch company, her adopted daughter Jia (Hottle) and Bernie (Henry), the comedic relief. The new addition is Trapper (Stevens), the vet. The plot is mostly Kong-centric, now that he lives in “hollow Earth” and Godzilla’s on the surface.

Kong finds another part of “hollow Earth” (best not to ask too many questions, as physics went out the window a long time ago in these films) that has other apes and Titans, setting in motion a big battle with the ‘Scar King’, a giant Orangutan. This necessitates a semi-forced team-up with Godzilla, with the help of an unexpected Titan. There’s some time spent on Jia’s journey, but not too much that you get bored of the humans!

As always, the CGI is pretty good, and Kong has more empathy than some human actors. Godzilla still looks great – and gets his “pink plates” upgrade. When they’re fighting each other or different Titans, it’s always pretty impressive to see. Nothing crazily spectacular here, but nor is it boring or excessively dumb. Good se of KISS’ “I Was Made For Loving You”!

Overall: Still fun monster battles

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Dune: Part Two

Official Australian release date: 29/2/24. Viewed: 29/2/24.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Actors: Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem
Genre: Sci-Fi / Drama
Rating: M

‘Dune: Part Two’ comes 2.5 years after the first film, and hopefully a final film to make it a trilogy in 3-4 years. It picks up pretty much straight after the first film, with Paul (Chalamet) and his mum Jessica (Ferguson) being shown how to live in the Arrakis desert by the Fremen, particularly Chani (Zendaya) and Stilgar (Bardem). There they continue to fight a guerrilla war against the Harkonnen.

To go along with the ‘big bad bald’ Baron (Skarsgard), we get his two nephews – the angry Beast (Bautista) and the psychotic Feyd-Rautha (Butler), who has a big role to play in the final act. We also get introduced to those pulling galactic strings from another planet, the Emperor (Walken) and his daughter, Princess Irulan (Pugh). There’s a few chess pieces in play, but even though it goes for 2 hour 40min, the pacing is generally quite fast and everything really comes together at the end, with Paul embracing his “messiah” role.

I’ll need to rewatch this, but it’s certainly up there with some of the best sci-fi films – better than the first film, and certainly an excellent sequel, similar to ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. The cinematography, costumes, score (or lack of in the final fight), set-design and CGI are all superb. It certainly makes it feel like you’ve witnessed something special and want to see what comes next.

Overall: Epic that delivers

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Next Goal Wins

Official Australian release date: 1/1/24. Viewed: 4/1/24.
Director: Taika Waititi
Actors: Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane
Genre: Comedy / Biopic
Rating: PG

‘Next Goal Wins’ is Taika Waititi’s 8^th film as director, and is another heartfelt little comedy gem, much more similar to ‘Boy’ and ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ than his other films. It’s based on a true story, after the Socceroos beat American Samoa 31-0 in a World Cup Qualifier in 2001. The ‘boss’ of American Samoa Football, Tavita (Kightley) then hires semi-disgraced coach Thomas Rongen (Fassbender) to try to help them to score just one goal.

Thomas doesn’t necessarily want to be there and the reasons for his anger are slowly revealed over the course of the film. The other main character who has a nice journey is Jaiyah (Kaimana), which is portrayed very well. Sadly it was filmed in Hawaii – not American Samoa or Tonga, but still looks great and gives it a tropical Polynesian vibe. Most of the film follows common misfits-to-sporting-heroes tropes, but is still based in reality – i.e. the team doesn’t go on to win the World Cup or anything! Good support cast, with Waititi favourites Rachel House & Rhys Daby present and small roles for Will Arnett & Elizabeth Moss, and the over-zealous Australians, Angus Sampson & Luke Hemsworth.

The soundtrack is good, and the portrayal of American Samoan culture is done well, particularly the pre-match war dances. The pacing is also good, with it not being too long, and there’s a nice balance between jokes and some of the touching/character-building moments. It’s nice to see Thomas come around and the positivity and happiness all the American Samoans show him and each other. The final game is well-edited and exciting, a fitting finish.

Overall: Simple, uplifting soccer story

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

 

Migration

Official Australian release date: 26/12/23. Viewed: 3/1/24.
Directors: Ben Renner & Guylo Homsy
Actors: Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Danny DeVito, Caspar Jennings
Genre: Adventure / Family
Rating: G

‘Migration’ is a really well-made family film. It’s a simple premise about anthropomorphic ducks – the father duck, Mack (Nanjiani), wants to protect his children/chicks, Dax (Jennings) and Gwen (Gazal), and the mother duck, Pam (Banks), wants them to experience the world and gain some experience. They meet some other ducks migrating south for the winter – they’re presumably in North-Eastern USA – so they decide to do the same, with quirky uncle Dan (DeVito) in tow. 

What follows is both a semi-familiar road-trip comedy, as well as a refreshing take on family, trying new things and helping others. There’s a great support cast, as the duck family passes through New York City and meets Chump the pigeon (Awkwafina), Delroy the macaw (Key), as well as Erin the heron (Kane) and GooGoo (Mitchell) – either a goose or a white duck. There’s a nice jail-break sequence for Delroy, which sets up the human antagonist, the Chef.

For some reason the Chef also has a Chinook and hunts them down, leading to Dax and Gwen having to step-up. The animation is a nice mix of cartoonish and realistic, and it looks excellent, especially at the end. There’s no overly-scary moments, some teachable themes, the voice cast is all good and there’s consistent laughs throughout. There’s also ‘Mooned’, the 9-min ‘Despicable Me’ tie-in at the start of the film, which kids seemed to love.

Overall: Nice, fun family film

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Flynn’s rating: 4 stars.
Lucy’s rating: 5 stars.

Dream Scenario

Official Australian release date: 1/1/24. Viewed: 2/1/24.
Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Tim Meadows, Michael Cera
Genre: Drama
Rating: MA

‘Dream Scenario’ is a unique concept, with thousands of people seeing Paul (Cage) in their dreams, just walking through, not really participating in the dream. This then turns him into a celebrity, something Paul, his wife Janet (Nicholson), daughters Hannah (Clement) and Sophie (Bird), and boss Brett (Meadows) aren’t prepared for, especially as he has no control over what’s happening. The film does well to purposefully not explore the how/why it’s happening and focuses on the impacts on Paul.

Odd that a lot of places are billing this as a comedy – I’d say it’s a drama, with a few little laughs, which then diverts into mild horror at the end, as the dreams inevitability turn into nightmares. Cage is good, and not totally manic, but plays a Professor and normal dad well, who ends up at his wits end. The ending is not as dark as it could’ve been, but nor is it a nice comedy ending either.

There’s some existential questions and you obviously get to ask “what would I do in this situation?” But mostly it’s probably an indictment on modern society, especially the penultimate scene. The support cast is good – should also mention Molly (Gelula) & Trent (Cera) from the PR company who play significant parts. And always good to have a Talking Heads song to wrap things up!

Overall: Interesting “what if” scenario

Gav's Rating: 3 stars 

Poor Things

Official Australian release date: 26/12/23. Viewed: 22/12/23.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Actors: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef
Genre: Drama / Romance
Rating: MA

‘Poor Things’ is… weird and hard to fully explain. It has elements of sci-fi, Frankenstein, romance, comedy and drama, as well as oddly framed camera angles, lots of fish-eye lens and keyhole shots. It follows Bella (Stone) and her “father”/creator, Godwin (Dafoe, who does well to still be able to act in his mask), Bella’s fiancée Max (Youssef) and fling Duncan (Ruffalo). The film's technically set in the 19^th century, but in a fictional world.

We follow Bella as she grows and learns what the world’s about, through 6 distinct acts – London, Lisbon, Alexandria, Paris and London again. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Godwin is a faux Frankenstein/Geppetto, w with Bella his Frankenstein’s Monster/Pinocchio. While the first 40min is all black & white, it establishes that we’re in a fantastical/un-real world and enables what follows to not be too jarring. Once Bella gains independence, her and Duncan go on a trip and we’re back in colour and there’s lots of nods to Wes Anderson.

There is a lot of sex and nudity from Stone, as Bella explores her sexuality. It often adds to the story, but not always. Stone is excellent as Bella, giving her a peculiar gait and way of talking to always make sure you know the character is not a normal adult. Ruffalo has some fun moments, and Dafoe’s always good, making Godwin into an empathetic character. I didn’t love the score and some of the cinematography, although the sky when they’re on the boat is captivating. At 140min, it’s probably 30min too long and while different, it with sometimes feels like odd things are thrown in just for oddness’ sake.

Overall: Unique, odd, sex-filled journey

Gav's Rating: 3 stars