Rental Family

Official Australian release date: 26/12/25. Viewed: 30/12/25.
Director: Hikari
Actors: Brendan Fraser, Mari Yamamoto, Takehiro Hira, Shannon Gorman
Genre: Drama
Rating: M

‘Rental Family’ starts off feeling like an off-beat comedy that’s going to explore the odd (to Western sensibilities) profession of having actors be emotional stand-ins at funerals, weddings, break-ups, etc. But it quickly turns into an examination of the emotional impact on these actors, primarily Phillip (Fraser), Shinji (Hira) and Aiko (Yamamoto). This is made easier by having Phillip being an expat American living in Tokyo, but who speaks Japanese well, so it’s only ~30% subtitles.

Things get complicated when Phillip agrees to play Mia (Gorman)’s Dad for Hitomi (Shinozaki), with a clear reckoning coming. All the actors are good, and the scenes with Mia and Phillip the most touching, but also Phillip and his time with aging actor Kikuo (Emoto) is handled well and may bring a few tears.

There’s definitely ‘Lost In Translation’ vibes, but Fraser plays it so humbly and calmly, that everything seems possible, but he also brings a quiet conviction with his sadness and humanity. I’m loving seeing him back in films, and while this has sad moments, it’s a bit more uplifting than ‘The Whale’!

Overall: Not a perfect film, maybe a little long, but well-made and worthwhile

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Official Australian release date: 18/12/25. Viewed: 28/12/25.
Director: James Cameron
Actors: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ is the 3^rd Avatar film, and seems quick after ‘The Way of Water’ from only 3 years ago, but a trilogy over 17 years is quite spaced out compared to most. This is an almost immediate sequel to the previous film and follows Jake Sully (Worthington) and Neytiri (Saldana) and their children Lo’ak (Dalton), Kiri (Weaver), Tuk (Bliss) & Spider (Champion) as they grieve the losses. They’re still with the sea people (Curtis & Winslet).

Much like ‘The Way of Water’, Quaritch (Lang) is still alive in a Navi body and still hunting the Sullys. We have lots of recurring characters – Norm (Moore), Garvin (Clement), Scoresby (Cowell), Selfridge (Ribisi), as we spend a bit of the film in the human settlement. However, the main plot follows Varang (Chaplin), a sort-of-witch who leads the Ash/bad Navi and aligns with Quaritch to hunt the Sullys. We also have more of the whales (“Tulkun”), which is both happy and sad. Good to see Clement’s arc, and he almost gets some jokes in.

While it feels a bit like déjà vu, as there’s lots of similar beats to the previous film and the ending of the first ‘Avatar’, it still looks great with the CGI once again top-notch and the score and further development of most characters, particularly their kids, is good. There’s a few new creatures, and while it’s long at 3 hours 15min, it was engaging and draws you back into the world of Pandora effortlessly. I just hope we get to see a resolution to the Navi vs human conflict at some point.

Overall: Great to see in IMAX & 3D in Melbourne

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars

Nuremberg

Official Australian release date: 4/12/25. Viewed: 14/12/25.
Director: James Vanderbilt
Actors: Rami Malek, Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, John Slattery
Genre: Drama
Rating: M

‘Nuremberg’ is a mostly-accurate biopic following the post-Word War II war crimes trials for the remains of the Nazi leadership. Because there’s multiple viewpoints or angles that could’ve been taken, the film follows Hermann Goring (Crowe) as the highest-ranked surviving member of Nazi Germany, the general of their air force. He’s imprisoned by Colonel Andrus (Slattery) and Dr Kelley (Malek) is charged with keeping the Nazi prisoners from committing suicide. The interactions between Kelley and Goring are the key focus.

The other focus is Justice Robert Jackson (Shannon) and Sir Maxwell-Fyfe (Grant) as they develop the prosecution and concept of an unprecedented international trial. This means it’s not completely a courtroom drama, even though that is the core of the final 30min. Crowe and Malek are great, and their scenes and relationship drives the story. Crowe does a great job of giving a literal war criminal, responsible for the worst atrocity ever, some sympathy and charm. The support cast are solid too, especially Sergent Triest (Woodall), and small roles from Colin Hanks and Lydia Peckham.

There’s no war scenes, and limited violence, but the most harrowing and impactful scene is when the courtroom (and therefore the world) is shown the concentration camps and the bodies, using real footage. The film doesn’t feel long at 2 hours 20min, and doesn’t focus on some of the global ramifications, but rather a few key personalities. There’s some genuinely fun moments/edits early on. A good reminder that the old adage holds true – all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

Overall: Not always fun, but really well-made and engaging

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars

 

Zootopia 2

Official Australian release date: 27/11/25. Viewed: 7/12/25.
Directors: Jared Bush & Byron Howard
Actors: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Ke Huy Quan, Andy Samberg
Genre: Animation / Adventure
Rating: PG

‘Zootopia 2’ is another strong whodunnit with our likeable odd-couple pairing of Judy Hopps (Goodwin, the rabbit) and Nick Wilde (Bateman, the fox) as the anthropomorphic new police recruits. Huge returning cast – police chief/buffalo Bogo (Elba), popstar gazelle (Shakira), mole Mr Big (LaMarche) and sheep Bellweather (Slate). Plus new additions Nibbles the beaver (Feimster), Gary the snake (Huy Quan), mayor/horse Winddancer (Warburton) and the lynx’s – Pawbert (Samberg) and his father Milton (Strathairn).

The case starts with the unveiling of a 100-year-old journal that is part of a cover-up to how the city of Zootopia was established – and the mystery of why there’s no reptiles there. This is where conspiracy theorist Nibbles comes in to help Judy & Nick, as they’re framed for helping Gary. The story is pretty obvious, and lots of parallels to immigrants helping establish the USA. There’s so many locations and other animals, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with all the jokes and references – Ratatouille, The Shining, Google, Babe, Cinderella, Starsky & Hutch – the list goes on.

Some of the biggest laughs are in the marsh, with the walruses and sea lions (don’t call them seals!). There’s probably some scary bits for young kids and it may be a bit long at 105min, but has a satisfactory ending and another end credits song by Shakira. Not quite as great as the original, but still a fun kids-film-that-adults-can-enjoy, carried by the strong performances from the 2 leads and their giant support cast.

Overall: Solid sequel, still fun enough

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars

Sisu: Road to Revenge

Official Australian release date: 20/11/25. Viewed: 23/11/25.
Director: Jalmari Helander
Actors: Jorma Tommila, Stephen Lang, Richard Brake, Kasper Velberg
Genre: Action / War
Rating: MA

‘Sisu: Road to Revenge’ is the somewhat-unexpected sequel to 2022’s ‘Sisu’, the Finnish one-man war film, following Aatami (Tommila). This time, it’s post-WWII, and he goes into the former-Finland part of the USSR to take the beams back to rebuild in Finland. The bad KGB guy (Brake) sends Dragunov (Lang) to kill Aatami – even though that didn’t go well last time. That’s pretty much the plot – and after a semi-peaceful first 10min, it’s all action!

The only other character who has more than 2min screentime would be one of the pilots (Velberg), everyone else is pretty much there to make up the body count. Must’ve got to at least at least 100! It’s a solid mix of ‘Saving Private Ryan’, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ and ‘John Wick’. If you want inventive deaths and violence, with a bit of wry humour, this is for you.

Still amazing Aatami gets away without speaking at all. Lang is great as a bad guy (arguably worse than his ‘Avatar’ character). It has a nice foreboding score, and a rapid pace – all over in 90min – with the “chapters” to keep it moving. While not filmed in Russia or Finland, Estonia is a pretty solid double. Ridiculous ending, but what more can you expect?

Overall: Fun and crazy death-defying action.

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars

 

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t

Official Australian release date: 13/11/25. Viewed: 17/11/25.
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Actors: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dominic Sessa                     
Genre: Thriller / Mystery
Rating: M

‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’ is the third entry in the “lets-make-magic-cool” series, coming 9 years after the 2^nd film, and reuniting Daniel (Eisenberg), Merritt (Harrelson), Henley (Fisher) & Jack (Franco) – “the Horsemen”, as well as a nice cameo from Thaddeus (Freeman). Pretty good to get so many of an ensemble back together after 12 years! The intro/set-up to get them together also introduces the next-gen of Bosco (Sessa), June (Greenblatt) & Charlie (Smith) and is done well.

The plot this time is the original Horsemen and the new 3 being tasked with taking down the corrupt South African diamond company, led by Veronika Vanderberg (Pike), who has a lot of fun with the role and plays it with the right amount of deranged, including the accent. There’s a few good heists, fights, escapes and car chases, as well as some Bond-like country-hopping – France, Belgium, UAE. The scenes with Freeman at the historical magician chateau are pretty fun.

Feels like a lower-stakes ‘Mission: Impossible’. It definitely helped that I watched the first 2 movies a day before seeing this, so it was pretty fresh. Although, I’m sure it still works if you only have vague recollections of the original. It’s pretty quick (110min), not too serious, semi-predictable, with a minor-twist-ending.

Overall: Fun, familiar and enjoyable

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars

The Running Man

Official Australian release date: 13/11/25. Viewed: 13/11/25.
Director: Edgar Wright
Actors: Glen Powell, Jayme Lawson, Michael Cera, Colman Domingo
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: MA

‘The Running Man’ is a remake of the Arnie film from 1987. Is it needed? Probably not. Is it better than that film? Yes. The premise is the same – and still silly – with a ‘Purge’-like survival reality show where the runner can win money while being hunted by everyone. This time, it’s Ben Richards (Powell) trying to win the prize money for his wife Shiela (Lawson) and sick daughter Cathy (Benn). He’s up against ‘The Network’ and the producer of the show, Killian (Brolin) – subtle name – and Bobby T (Domingo), as well as the hunters, led by McCone (Pace). Ben gets his 12 hour head start, then has to try to survive for 4 weeks.

Powell is cementing himself as the new Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise of the 2020s, and is quite likeable here. He gets help from Molie (H Macy), Elton (Cera) & Bradley (Ezra), showing there’s still some humanity in this ‘1984’ type future. The score and soundtrack are just OK, and there’s some funny moments, but no real laughs – both a bit odd, since this is directed by Wright. Brolin, Domingo & Pace seem to relish their bad guy/dick characters

It’s another Stephen King adaption from this year (after ‘The Life of Chuck’ and ‘The Long Walk’), and while not spooky, definitely has dark and dystopian undertones. But in general, it’s a pretty straight-forward action film, with plenty of explosions and violence, but nothing too graphic. There’s some down time between all the escaping, and the ending is OK, if not perfect. Probably 20min too long, at 2 hours 10min.

Overall: Solid futuristic action

Gav’s Rating: 3 stars