Film Shapes

This is the sixth Mission: Impossible film with Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt and only the second to have a previous director at the helm in Chris McQuarrie (the others, in order, being Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams and Brad Bird). I enjoyed Fallout , and that's pretty much the same sentiment for all the films in this series. Each one has something better and worse than the others, whether that's an actor, an action set-piece or a shot. My point is that they tend to blend into one another, not necessarily in a bad way. Admittedly, the bonkers-ness of the practical (as opposed to CGI) stunts has seemed to grow exponentially. But that Cruise bastard appears to have aged about 6 years in 22. Plot-wise, it's fairly convoluted. According to McQuarrie, lots of the film was made on the fly. "I'm working on it" (or words to that effect) are uttered throughout the film, reflecting the actual goings-on behind the cameras. Presumably not unusual in films of thi...

It's been nearly two weeks since I've seen this film and I'm as ambivalent towards it as I was right after seeing it. It's not terrible, just mostly inconsequential. I say mostly because there's an angle that slots into the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe that'll become integral to the resolution of the whole Thanos business. No more to be said on that. Anyway, Ant-Man and the Wasp brings Paul Rudd's ant back to the margins of the MCU. This time he's joined by Evangeline Lilly's wasp in a story that focuses on personal themes of closure and never losing hope (or Janet, in this case). The 'ant'agonist (eh, eh?) is a multi-phasic herring really, probably one of the most innocuous baddies in these films. Ghost, played by Hanna John-Kamen, is basically just an obstacle to the mission of retrieiving Michelle Pfieffer's (original) Wasp, Janet van Dyne, from the quantum realm. Well, it all sounds like a lot of old rope, doesn't it? ...

A little trepidation escorted us into screen 6 at Morley's Event cinemas for a morning showing of Solo: A Star Wars Story . This was mainly down to the grizzles I'd been hearing about on-set troubles and mis-casting and stuff like that. Also Ron Howard had been hired to 'fire-fight' the film into shape and finish on time. Safe pair of hands is old Ronnie but not the edgiest. To possibly perpetuate a rumour, it appears the previous directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller (of Lego Movie and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs fame), couldn't quite handle such a behemoth as Solo . No matter, as this turned out to be perhaps my third favourite Ron Howard film (not counting the ones he's acted in, like The Music Man ), after Frost/Nixon and Willow . A specific concern of the grizzlers seemed to be the casting of Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han Solo, first seen getting in and out of trouble on the industrial planet of Corellia. Rest easy, he's fine in this. O...

After Deadpool  had raked in just under $800 million worldwide two years ago, it made perfect sense to have a crack at a sequel. And I think Deadpool 2 is slightly better than the original. Maybe this is because there's less of the TJ Miller riffing, which was intermittently solid but overcooked. In this one, they dialled it back quite a bit, as they did the old blind lady and the taxi driver. All fine characters, and this time, used sparingly. Another reason is the identity of the antagonist. At first, it seems to be Josh Brolin's Cable but then, for story reasons, it kind of morphs into circumstance, I guess. There are several moments when our potty-mouthed hero struggles to keep all the pieces together (metaphorically and literally). In fact, Pool begins to fight more against himself and his 'unkillability', which prevents him from [SPOILER - REDACTED], so you might say Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson is the pro/an-tagonist. The direction also seems more assure...

So this, the penultimate episode of the Marvel Avengers series (the third phase at least), is pretty ballsy work. Discretion precludes me from spewing forth on all the stuff that goes on here, but if you don't mind the cat escaping the bag, the podcast below is full of spoilers. I reckon it's safe to say that the ballsiness of the story may well be softened by the end of the 4th film (whatever that may be called). But here, at the midpoint of the two films, misery and desolation rule the roost. Enough said for now. Onto the star of the film - Thanos. This is the guy that has been hanging around in the background for most of the previous MCU films, at least while the Infinity Stones have been in play. He's been referred to, glimpsed, even had a line or two in post-credit stings. But in  Infinity War  he really gets his supernatural funky out down there (apologies to Cinema Prague). Thanos as a universal Malthusian Check is one of the neater conceits in the MCU. In fa...

Monday morning. Kids at school. $10 tickets at the Galleria. All looking good. And then.... Ready Player Wonka. This is Steven Spielberg's latest. It's about a boy, Charlie Bucket Wade Watts, played by Tye Sheridan, who lives in an impoverished rural  urban setting and dreams of being elsewhere. Enter a mysterious, man-child savant with poor social skills and a hugely popular business enterprise. Said fella wants to give away 'the keys to the kingdom' for one reason or another. Loads of people scramble to find the golden ticket keys. Shit, there's even a scene of the protagonists floating in a cylindrical chamber that's very reminiscent of the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory . Like most Spielberg films, this is put together with the skills of a professional technician who knows what he's doing and can call upon the cream of the industry to help him. He has some pull, this guy. But also like most Spielberg films, it doesn't do anyth...

Here's a new thing. I usually only put up entries for films that I see at the cinema (save the occasional 'best of' or some such) but as this streaming idea begins to take hold, I thought I'd join the party. The caveat is that Annihilation was released in cinemas in the US, Canada and China, and Netflix in other 'territories' so it's actually a ridgy digde theatrical release anyway. Not sure how to play it with films like Bright and Mute , which were Netflix originals (though not much chop). We'll see. So, to the film itself. This follows a few years after the great Ex Machina and is imbued with similar weighty, thought-provoking qualities. It stars Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac, both of whom are top drawer, basically their default setting. It's creepy, well-paced and it ends with some nice ambiguity. So why didn't I like it as much as I thought I would? Don't get me wrong, it's a good film. But I wasn't blown away. Nor was I...

$19.50 for a ticket? Check. Small but comfortable screen? Check. Foreign language film? Check. Choc bomb? Check. Hairy companion (Liam) alongside? Check. Ahh, this must be the Luna in Leederville. Just like old times. Actually, it appears they're adding some screens in the building next door. Good news for the independent cinemas. Hope it all works out. Anyway, In the Fade , literally 'Out of Nowhere' but the title comes from a Queens of the Stone Age song from 2000. Josh Homme, singer, etc wrote the soundtrack for the film. The background of the film is juicy, abhorrent ground. It's based on the true story of 10 murders in Germany between 2000 and 2009, committed by a group of right-wing neo-nazi cunts called the National Socialist Underground. This from the Junkee website: The movie is based on the true story of killings that were allegedly carried out by the National Socialist Underground between 2001 and 2009. German Public Radio film critic Patrick Wellinsk...