Trailers Week 47: 31/05/15

Point Break

This remake of Katheryn Bigelow's classic 1991 surfer heist flick looks like it goes in a completely different direction. Instead of Bodhi's gang being selfish bank robbers, they are now Robin Hood type figures. All I want to see is the return of the Richard Nixon mask. Aussie actor Luke Bracey stars as Johnny Utah and Édgar Ramírez as Bodhi. Also starring Teresa Palmer and Ray Winstone.

The End of the Tour

This biopic is about a five day road trip journalist David Lipsky had with the late acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace during the tour of his classic book Infinite Jest. This movie looks like it might provide an insight into the tortured soul of Wallace. Starring Jason Segel as Wallace and Jesse Eisenberg as Lipsky.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

This quirky comedy is about a teenage girl exploring her sexuality and recording the process of it. I think there needs to be more movies like this so that everybody (especially young women) feel comfortable with their bodies the way they are. Starring Bel Powley, Chris Meloni, Kristen Wiig and Alexander Skarsgård sporting a rather sleazy moustache.

Pawn Sacrifice

Tobey Maguire stars as chess prodigy Bobby Fischer, who was used in a ploy to heighten the US' perceived intellectual dominance over the Soviets by playing against their best player, Boris Spassky. Also starring Liev Schreiber and Lily Rabe.

A Walk in the Woods

Robert Redford is usually in serious movies that have a political or survivalist aspect to them. This latest one looks to be more of a comedy about two old friends who attempt to hike the Appalachian trail before they die. While I'm sure there will be serious moments, it looks like it will be a lot of fun. Also starring Nick Nolte, Mary Steenburgen and Emma Thompson.

Cop Car

This thriller is about two boys who come across an abandoned cop car and decide to take it for a ride. Soon they find out that it belongs to a corrupt sheriff who will do anything to retrieve the car. Starring Kevin Bacon.

American Ultra

This stoner sleeper spy action comedy says it all in the genre. Jesse Eisnberg, Kristen Stewart, Connie Britton and Topher Grace star.

The Face of an Angel

We get a closer look at Michael Winterbottom's drama about a journalist who is investigating the murder of a tourist in Italy. Starring Daniel Brühl, Kate Beckinsale and Cara Delevingne.

Gemma Bovery

This week - with another late Australian release of a French film - comes Gemma Bovery from director Anne Fontaine, and based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds. 

Martin (Fabrice Luchini) lives in a small Norman village, working as a baker. Soon an English couple move in nearby, Gemma (Gemma Arterton) and Charles (Jason Flemyng) Bovery. Martin is instantly intrigued by them. He is an avid reader of Gustave Flaubert's work, and sees a similarity between Gemma & Charles, and the characters in Madame Bovery. Martin intensely observes the couple, particularly Gemma. Gemma seems to live in her own dreamworld and soon starts to stray from Charles, despite Martin's attempts to prevent it from happening.

Gemma Bovery opens with some beautifully shot, alluring footage of dough being needed in Martin's bakery, from there though, it's all downhill. The problem with this film seems to be a mixture of plot and delivery. I just couldn't get myself involved in the story or find any common interest in the characters. They all seem to be in a dazy, dream-like state as they go about their everyday affairs, and the concept of this couple mirroring (in Martin's eyes) the characters from a Gustave Flaubert's work Madame Bovery, whilst an intriguing premise, is just utterly unbelievable. The couple just happen to have the last name Bovery and then unwittingly copy the lifestyle of their literary equals? Is this actually real or in Norman's head? It's a format which can make for some enthralling stories, if done correctly. However with Gemma Bovery, it comes off as too confusingly self-reflexive, whilst lacking anything captivating enough to keep my interest. 

There's a surreal element to Gemma Bovery which overpowers the performances to the extent that it's difficult to judge the abilities of the actors. Fabrice Luchini brings a wonderful passion to Martin, but his character's reflexive nature and odd moralistic concerns don't really hit it home for me. Many have praised Gemma Arterton (Strawberry Fields from Quantum of Solace, in case you were wondering) for her performance, but I'm not so sure. I think the dazy nature of Gemma meant that she was the weakest of the main characters, and didn't provide the interest that I was looking for. Isabelle Candelier has more of a supporting role, however her character - Valérie - was much more well rounded overall.

As I mentioned before, there's some beautiful imagery going on here, that wouldn't be out of place in a film like Two or Three Things I Know About Her, some of it is unusually sensual - seriously, what is it with French characters and turning cooking into an erotic premise? - but ultimately this film fails to draw out any sort of emotions from its audience.

Spy

Parodies of the spy film and in particular the James Bond movies have been around for as long as the genre has existed, with notable entries being Johnny English and the Austin Powers movies. But these parodies have never really been executed too well using American characters (although Austin Powers were Hollywood movies, the character was still British), so I had little faith in Spy, something that was soon proven wrong.

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is a CIA agent who handles field agent and super-spy Bradley Fine (Jude Law) from the CIA headquarters in Washington. After a mission goes wrong where Bradley is killed and the covers of all CIA field agents is blown, Susan is the only person who can go undercover and recover a nuclear weapon being sold by villainess Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne). Susan must also contend with the arrogant rogue agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) who doesn't believe she can complete the mission on her own and wishes to garner all the glory.

The film parodies a lot of the elements of a James Bond movie, and quite well too. Everything from the cars to the gadgets to the glamorous women appear. The opening title sequence is even a perfect match to one of those films. The movie does try to delve into some of the more in-depth subplots that involves a double CIA agent that is played by Morena Baccarin. This seems a little out of place and only adds confusion to a rather simple and enjoyable plot.

The film however is very self-aware and sure of itself as a spy parody. It understands all of the ridiculous elements of the movies and each character is an archetype of those movies. Jude Law's Bradley Fine is very much the gentleman spy and Statham's Rick Ford is a cross between Jason Bourne and his own character from Crank or The Transporter films. Susan Cooper is very much the tough female protagonist and it was quite cool to see Melissa McCarthy kick ass, although her reactions to when she kills someone could have been removed.

So while McCarthy does play a strong character, she still is playing the same crass woman that she has been, although it was rather dialled back in this film. Rose Byrne shouldn't really venture into mainstream comedies like this. While she's good in quirky and offbeat comedies, I think she should just stick to serious roles. I'm sure Jude Law was glad to have a chance to play James Bond in this movie and he looked like he was having a fun time. It is refreshing to see Jason Statham return to comedy after almost twenty years because it seems everyone has forgotten that he made his debut in two great comedies (as the characters of Bacon and Turkish). Miranda Hart makes for great support with Allison Janney as Susan's boss at the CIA. The real show stealer for me was Peter Serafinowicz, who was a delight in every single scene as Italian agent Aldo.

A surprising foray into the spy parody for Feig and McCarthy which pays of with some fun laughs, but mostly presented by the other characters. Jason Statham and Peter Serafinowicz shine in the supporting roles.

Woman In Gold

Films about the Holocaust come out every year, so when a film about the modern impact that dark time in history is made, you would get quite excited to see how this event still affects so many people to this day. And while I'm not at all adverse to seeing an intense legal drama (both To Kill a Mockingbird and A Time to Kill are great legal dramas), that backdrop may not work as well here.

Woman In Gold takes place in 1998, when young, struggling lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) is introduced to his mother's Austrian friend Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren). Maria's sister has recently died and she has found some letters that her sister sent to the Austrian government asking about the restitution of her family's paintings that were stolen from her family by the Nazis, namely the famous Gustav Klimt portrait of her aunt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Maria enlists Randy's help in the legal case and while at first he is reluctant, he soon decides to help. The pair travel to Vienna, where a symbolic conference is being held on the restitution of these types of artworks and they begin their case. Whilst in Austria, they meet investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin (Daniel Brühl) who helps them with their research.

This movie staggers along at an odd pace. At times you are being swept up in the progress that Randy is making with the case and at other times it slows right down, as Maria and Randy share a tender moment of understanding and while that sounds completely normal of a drama, it happens at odd and inopportune times. Randy's wife Pam also shows up, but only at times when Randy is having a crisis of faith and needs some outside direction. The film makes a big effort to not have to use subtitles the whole time as Maria does not wish to speak German whilst in Austria, but then this extends to the other non-American characters speaking to each other in English, even on Austrian TV. I feel like this was a bit lazy and could have been changed.

The film also features flashbacks to Maria's youth in Vienna, both before and during the Nazi occupation. Here she is played by Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany and her husband Frederick is portrayed by Max Irons. These sequences show how serene her home life was before the Nazis, but are also quite open in showing the brutality of the Nazis. Also when the couple are fleeing Austria, the tension and fear they felt comes through.

Ryan Reynolds carries most of the acting in this film and has really been showing his dramatic range in the past few years (presumably to drop the stigma attached with The Green Lantern). Even in shots that aren't particularly focused on his character, he shines with his subtle performance. Helen Mirren on the other hand, plays the character similarly to the ones she has over the last couple of years, especially her role in The Hundred Foot Journey. Tatiana Maslany does a much better job playing the younger version of Maria and is full of emotion. Daniel Brühl brings incredible emotion to the role of Hubertus and Katie Holmes supports the main cast well.

Woman In Gold offers enjoyable viewing, but doesn't try too hard to make a splash. There are some emotional scenes, but not enough to make the entire film one that you will cry the whole way through. Just like in Dumb and Dumber there is a joke about the confusion between Austria and Australia.

Trailers Week 46: 24/05/15

Cooties

Yeah remember that thing that you thought girls had when you were a kid, well apparently it was a virus that turns kids into violent, aggressive little zombies, confirming every fear I have about little kids. This movie looks like it takes a similar approach to Zombieland when looking at the zombie genre. Starring Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Nasim Pedrad and Leigh Whannell.

Steve Jobs

We get our first tiny look at Danny Boyle's attempt at making a biopic about the founder of Apple. It's written Aaron Sorkin, so expect some of that high class dialogue we all have come to love. Michael Fassbender dons the black turtleneck with Seth Rogen playing Steve Wozniak. Also starring Kate Winslet, Sarah Snook, Jeff Daniels and Katherine Waterston.

Set Fire to the Stars

This jazzy trailer is the second one this week to star Elijah Wood. He stars as American poet John Malcolm Brinnin, who attempts to save his hero, famed Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. On the surface it looks like fun, but I'm sure it will have plenty of darker moments. Also starring Celyn Jones, Kelly Reilly, Steven Mackintosh and Shirley Henderson.

We Are Your Friends

A young DJ and his friends have an idealised vision of what their lives should become, but soon some of them give up on their dreams while he stays committed. This looks like a great portrayal of what it is like to be growing up as a part of Generation Y, as you grow up with the frustration that you will never be able to achieve your hopes and dreams. Starring Zac Efron, Emily Ratajkowski, Wes Bentley and Jon Bernthal.

The Gallows
This week's found footage horror movie is about a group of kids who break into their school with the sole purpose of vandalising the props for the school play that is about to debut. But instead they get haunted by a malevolent teen ghost.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
So apparently the maze in the first movie was just an initial test for god knows what. Now the teens face a new test; surviving the "Scorch", the wasteland remnants of our old destroyed world. Starring Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Nathalie Emmanuel, Katherine MacNamara, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Aidan Gillen.

Fresh Dressed
This is the first of our documentary trailers this week and probably the only one not to make you cry. Fresh Dressed chronicles the evolution of hip-hop clothing from the 80s to today. Features big names such as Nas, P-Diddy, Pharrell, Pusha T, Damon Dash and Kanye.

Amy
This documentary about singer Amy Whinehouse uses archive footage that was taken while she was still alive and in a way tells her story the way she wanted to tell it.

Batkid Begins
This heart-wrenching documentary is about a kid with leukaemia who makes the wish that he could be the real Batman for a day and the work that the whole city puts in to make this dream a very real reality. It looks like an amazing story.

Ed's Thoughts - Mad Max: Fury Road

Jack made some compelling arguments against the latest Mad Max film in his full review. As I enjoyed it a fair bit more, I thought I'd give some of my opinions.

A harsh desert landscape, a worn-out interceptor and a familiar man with a different face. The fourth instalment in the Mad Max series, Fury Road, has taken thirty years to get here, and it doesn't mess about. This barren and hostile world is unfettered, ferocious; fuelled by blood and a metric butt-tonne of petrol. The plot is simple, just like the first two, and every single frame is utterly beautiful. I've struggled through many modern action flicks, and I despise the Michael Bay 'splosion-fest model of filmmaking so everything here should be wrong. But it's oh so right.

Fury Road has everything that I look for in contemporary action: isolated settings, eccentric characters and a unique style of filmmaking that only comes around once in a blue moon. Miller harks back to a sorely missed era of filmmaking by utilising primarily practical effects, composited together with minimal CGI to create some visually incredible stunts. Take a look at this glorious B-Roll footage to see what I mean. Yes some of the explosions and crashes are ridiculous, and that definitely changes the level of realism that may be expected from the previous films, but at the same time this is still very much a Mad Max film. Other old-school effects like speed ramping to create the illusion of extreme motion, really do make this feel like a good old 80s action flick.

I do find it a bit sad that Max takes a step back in this film, but I actually thought that Imperator Furiosa was a well fleshed-out, very likable character and really didn't mind that she took the centre stage, along with her equally badass War Rig. The minimal plot was easy enough to follow, without too much exposition, and the blend of the rolling story with impeccably choreographed visual sequences make Fury Road almost operatic in design. It's a highly visual story and when done well, that is an undeniably powerful form of movie making.

Mad Max: Fury Road gave me a slap in the face more powerful than the strongest caffeinated drink (or other...substances...) and I was fixated from beginning to end. It's action-meets-arthouse and everything in between, and easily the best film of the year thus far. I want to hug George Miller for giving this series another shot...but I'd probably get arrested.

Classic Movie Review: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

The Lost World: Jurassic Park is the second instalment and at the time of its release it was seen as a very poor sequel to the original film. And while it does live up to comparisons with the original film, it is a very fun movie in its own right and has a cast of great characters and all new dinosaurs to hold up even eighteen years later.

Set roughly four years after the events of the first film, Dr Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) is summoned to the home of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) where he is asked to lead a team of experts to the second island that contains dinosaurs in Costa Rica. However when Malcolm discovers that his girlfriend, palaeontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) has been sent in advance, the team leaves a little early. However, once the team gets to the island, they discover two things; Malcolm's daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester) has stowed away in one of the trucks, and that a team of InGen scientists led by Hammond's nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard), the current InGen CEO has led a team to the island to extract a number of dinosaurs for a theme park in San Diego.

The Lost World takes no time in getting to the action. This movie relies on none of the suspense in getting to the dinosaurs that the first film did and as a result we can get a lot more fun. Within thirty minutes we are in the middle of a chase of the InGen team and a whole herd of dinosaurs. From this point on it is all action, right up to the thrilling climax which involves a T-Rex rampaging through the streets of San Diego. While this sequence may seem out of place to some, it is a perfect place to show off how big dinosaurs were in comparison to our modern buildings.

This movie has some pretty cheesy, but memorable quotes that are delivered quite well by Jeff Goldblum. The line "Where you're going is the only place on Earth where the geese chase you" is but one of the many wonderful lines. The character of Dr. Burke has some absurd long explanations about different dinosaurs that are fun to sit through as they are quite complex and scientific, but are one of the details that make this film well rounded, but at the same time it isn't taking itself too seriously. The film also has a surprising amount of characterisation for a film of this budget and genre. The leader of InGen's safari team Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite) is a well built character and his relationship with others, especially his second-in-command Dieter (Peter Stormare), is something to write about.

The movie introduces some new dinosaurs into the mix. Every kid's favourite spiky tailed herbivore Stegosaurus gets a lengthy action sequence early on, as well as a new small dino called a Compy that terrified me when I was a kid. The Velociraptors also play a much bigger part in the film and their intelligence is fleshed out a little more (although not to same extent as in the third film. The CGI dinosaur design had developed a lot further than what they were at the first time and as a result the dinosaurs are a lot more mobile. Spielberg however still uses a lot of animatronics that work seamlessly with the CGI and is something that you won't find in movies made today.

Jeff Goldblum really does steal the show in this movie. He is well practiced with his character of Ian Malcolm and his own idiosyncrasies just add to his character. Julianne Moore is superb and was having a couple of good years around this time with both Boogie Nights (1997) and The Big Lebowski (1998). Arliss Howard (of Full Metal Jacket fame) is great as the greedy villain Ludlow. My only criticism is that Vince Vaughn should have stuck around for longer as he disappears two-thirds of the way into the film. Keep an eye out early on for a twenty-five year old Eli Roth playing Subway Man (you'll know the character when you see him).

While this is far from being Steven Spielberg's magnum opus (I think he's still searching for that himself), it is an amazing film to re-watch and rediscover as a fun part of the Jurassic Park series. I know for a fact that I enjoy it time after time.

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Mad Max franchise has been a wholly Australian series of films. Yeah, Tina Turner was in Beyond Thunderdome, but we try to forget that. The movies focus on Australian's love of cars and our harsh, unforgiving outback. But Fury Road doesn't quite live up to the sleek vision created by Dr George Miller all those years ago and instead drowns in unbelievable landscapes and physical violence that seems out of place.

In the harsh post-apocalyptic world that has come, Max (Tom Hardy) has been captured by the followers of the cult leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Joe's top lieutenant Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) has been sent out to get oil from the nearby Gastown. It is soon revealed that Furiosa has stolen away Joe's harem and he sends out his armies to get them back. Max is sent along with Nux (Nicholas Hoult), who needs Max's blood to survive, but Max soon joins up with Furiosa to help her on her quest.

Now before I get started with any of my thoughts on the movie, I want you to know that I understand that this is supposed to be a mindless bit of entertainment. But that's the thing. Both Mad Max and Mad Max 2 were fun, but they were also better than this. They had simple story-lines with not too much in depth backgrounds going on. Here you are constantly confused by who characters are and what relationship they have to others (let alone figuring out what some of them are).

Miller attempts to capture the brilliance of the second film and leave all that Thunderdome business behind him. And it works to a certain point. Max has minimal dialogue in this movie, just like in that film, and the plot kind of revolves around oil. It takes a lot of time to figure out what exactly is happening in this movie and when you do figure it out, it seems a little disappointing.

Another big thing that I found in this movie is the violence. No, not that I was expecting it to be a peaceful film, but that it is the wrong kind of violence. These movies rely very heavily on car crashes and bashing into each other at high speeds with the occasional gun being shot (careful, you don't want to waste that ammo), but there is an inordinate amount of physical violence taking place. If I want to see hand-to-hand combat, I will watch literally any other action movie. I don't need to see Max get into fisticuffs with anyone, because the mere threat of him punching you will make anyone back down. And what about those car explosions? These are way too over the top. The appeal of the original films was seeing car accidents that were realistic because they were based on Miller's experiences in the Emergency ward of a hospital. Now it just seems like you throw a whole bunch of kerosene in there and that will appeal to audiences.

The acting in the film is pretty minimal. Tom Hardy does his best Mel Gibson impersonation and only gets an Aussie accent half the time. Charlize Theron does play a tough bitch, which is cool, but there isn't great characterisation on her part. Hugh Keays-Byrne is shouty enough, but fails to either scare or excite. Nicholas Hoult's character is a little weasel that is neither here nor there. Joe's harem gets screen time, but no time to properly act because look out, there's a truck exploding.

This is one that you either watch or you don't. It is littered with references to the original films (but don't worry, assumed knowledge isn't needed), as well as references to other classic Australian films, which you will get if you have seen them. Definitely a movie that you watch to chill out to or be revved up by. Your choice.

Ex Machina

In his directorial debut, writer Alex Garland mixes simple storytelling with high concepts such as artificial intelligence, sexuality and data retention to make a powerful beautiful film. The combination of beautiful images and insanely good acting and you make a definite impact with your first film.

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is a programmer for a popular search engine known as Bluebook. One day Caleb wins a prize of going to stay with his elusive boss Nathan (Oscar Isaac) for a week. Once he gets there, Caleb discovers that his true purpose is to conduct a Turing test on Ava (Alicia Vikander), a female robot created by Nathan that will change artificial intelligence forever. It is when Caleb discovers that Nathan brought him there for darker reasons than he thought, Caleb starts to question what exactly is going on.

Garland's story is very slow-burning, but at the same time your attention is being held completely. The simple narrative of two men and a robot is engaging, as Ava plays Nathan and Caleb off of one another. Indeed the changing relationship and power balance the two men go through is a remarkable thing to watch. Caleb enters this world vulnerable, but once he thinks he learns everything there is to know, his perceived power in his relationship with Nathan is fundamentally changed.

The very topical subject of mass surveillance is being looked at here, as Ava's programming allows her to get her intelligence from looking at what everyone is searching for on the internet. This multiplies the idea of people looking at what we are doing in the digital world by having a single all knowing machine looking at our digital footprints. Garland also examines the idea of programmed sexuality in humans via a scene between Caleb and Nathan. They discuss the idea of sexuality being inherently programmed into humans, so it doesn't matter if you are hetero- or homosexual, this is something that you are born with. This arises when Caleb confronts Nathan and asks whether he programmed Ava to be attracted to Caleb.

This film looks incredible. Cinematographer Rob Hardy has crafted some exceptional shots both of interiors and exteriors. Everything from forests to mountaintops looks so enticing and clear, but it is Hardy's use of lighting and colour in Nathan's underground facility that truly standout. The colour scheme draws heavily from the RGB scale and the predominant colours in each location are red, green and blue. In scenes where the facility goes into lockdown, the interior is bathed in foreboding red light that mutes out every other colour. In certain pivotal scenes, Hardy also employs a fisheye lens to great effect. The bending of the image adds a certain surreal feeling to these scenes.

The three central performances in this film are just so superb, each feeding into the other to make this film entirely collaborative. Domhnall Gleeson's Caleb is just so naïve of the situation that he is in and thinks he has complete control the entire time, but should really be trusting no one. His confused looks throughout the film are completely warranted as the unique situation he is in would be a new one for anybody. Oscar Isaac makes his character deep and intriguing whilst, not giving away any of his inner feelings. I feel as though Nathan has a complex past but I am happy not knowing what it is at all. Alicia Vikander ties it all together with her nuanced performance of Ava. She moves fluidly, but there are still some subtle movements she makes that are not entirely human. Sonoya Mizuno adds a great supporting character as a mute robot.

All up Alex Garland's first feature is a massive success. It offers a look at the near future the same way Spike Jonze did with Her, one that is not entirely implausible. I think the take away message from this film is that there may already be robots living among us.

Trailers Week 45: 17/05/15

Youth

This trailer is so similar to that of the fantastic Italian film The Great Beauty, that I thought the film was an American remake of it. This trailer even has the same piece of music that is in the former, which can viewed here. But upon discovering that Youth is the follow up film from director Paolo Sorrentino, I immediately understood the connection. Starring Michael Caine, Paul Dano, Jane Fonda, Rachel Weisz and Harvey Keitel.

Crimson Peak
Director Guillermo Del Toro returns to the horror genre with this 19th century haunted house movie. It has all the trademarks of a Del Toro horror; ghouls, shadowy characters and amazingly unique set design. Starring Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain and Charlie Hunnam.

The Intern

From writer & director Nancy Meyers comes this not particularly inspiring comedy. This seems like it could go either way, but for now I'll pass off judgement. It has a surprisingly strong cast, Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo and...uh....Snoop Dogg apparently?

Manglehorn

Al Pacino breaks away from his typecast mould in Manglehorn where he seems to be playing a Southern family man? Directed by David Gordon Green and starring Al Pacino, Holly Hunter and Chris Messina

American Heist

This crime feature/heist film from director Sarik Andreasyan looks very action packed but doesn't seem to have much of a story. Perhaps Adrien Brody really needs a pay-check. Starring Hayden Christensen, Adrien Brody, Jordana Brewster and Akon.

Jem and the Holograms
This film seems to be inspired by Justin Bieber and how he got picked up by a record label through youtube videos. However the characters in this seem a little more masculine than Justin. Based on an 80s animated series, Jem and the Holograms is directed by Jon M. Chu and stars Juliette Lewis, Molly Ringwald and Aubrey Peeples.

Unexpected

Cobie Smulders stars as a pregnant high-school teacher who develops a friendship with one of her students, who also happens to be pregnant. Directed by Kris Swanberg and starring Cobie Smulders, Anders Holm, Gail Bean and Elizabeth McGovern.

Trailers Week 44: 10/04/15

Vacation

We here at That Other Movie Blog have the utmost respect for the legend of comedy that was John Hughes and we have particular reverence for his Vacation movies. This reboot of the series of films should have us all nervous, but instead looks to be rather funny. In it, a grown up Rusty will take his own family on a road trip cross country to Walley World. Instead of being played by Anthony Michael Hall, he will this time be played by Ed Helms. Also starring Christina Applegate, Charlie Day, Chevy Chase and Chris Hemsworth.

Ricki and the Flash

Veteran director Jonathan Demme directs Meryl Streep in this film about ageing rocker (this time a woman!) Ricki, who is reunited with her estranged family after her grown daughter goes through a bitter divorce. Also starring Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer, Sebastian Stan and Audra McDonald.

Freedom

This dual timeline movie follows a slave who has freshly escaped just before the breakout of the Civil War and the ship captain who transported his ancestor to the Americas. It's Roots, just modern and a movie. Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., William Sadler and Bernard Forcher.

Tangerine

This indie flick is about a girl who has been out of prison for less than 24 hours who finds out that her boyfriend cheated on her whilst she was on the inside and does everything that she can so that she won't get sent back inside. Starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, James Ransone and Mickey O'Hagan.

Absolutely Anything
This movie follows a man who is granted the powers to do anything imaginable and if he uses them for evil, the Earth will be destroyed by the alien civilisation who gave him the powers. It stars Simon Pegg, Eddie Izzard, Kate Beckinsale and the voices of Monty Python and Robin Williams.

Return To Sender

A rape revenge fantasy in which Rosamund Pike is the victim and slowly torments her rapist who was caught and is in prison. Also starring Nick Nolte, Rumer Willis and Shiloh Fernandez.

Magic Mike XXL
Mike the stripper comes out of retirement to join his crew and take on a stripping championship. In this trailer Channing Tatum gets hot and heavy with some metalworking and Joe Manganiello obviously never learned the correct way to drink water from a bottle.

An Open Secret
This week we end on a bit of a downer with a documentary about child abuse in Hollywood through the manipulation of child actors. It's a scary reality, but a story that needs to be out there nonetheless.

Infini

Aussie director Shane Abbess seeks to emulate the classic sci-fi movie Aliens with his debut. Although it does work as a good horror film, some poor writing and direction has made it slightly disappointing, despite being quite an ambitious film.

In the 23rd century, an impoverished population of Earth earn money by taking part in off world mining that they travel to via a process called Slipstreaming (time travel mixed with teleportation, it's a bit unclear). Whit Carmichael (Daniel MacPherson) is on the first day of this job, but after a crisis at the home base, he is transported to the furthest outpost in the galaxy. A search and rescue team is dispatched to bring him home. Only once they get there, the team discovers that there is an airborne virus that turns the crew against one another.

As previously stated this film is very similar to Aliens at the base level. But where this film suffers is that there is too much exposition happening throughout the entire thing, followed by patches where you are unsure of what is going on. Within the first twenty minutes we are exposed to a lot of sci-fi technology that we need to understand for later in the movie, but we don't get a clear enough explanation of how exactly they work. The movie also tries to make way too many explanations about what the virus is (spoiler: it's an alien lifeform!) and how it spreads, but instead we could have just been told that it is turns you into a space zombie, that I could have taken on board and not have been so confused about. Without going into it too much, the ending is also very confusing. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be an allegory for something because what is there seems like a bit of a cop out.

The characters are largely unsympathetic as we don't get enough time to see any development from any of them. All we know about Whit is that he has a pregnant wife and he must get back to her, as is the case with crew member Harris Menzies (Harry Pavlidis), he has a daughter. I think there was a relationship between two of the crew members, but it was so intermittent that I couldn't tell for sure. The rest of the crew isn't at all expanded on, despite that Chester Huntington (Luke Ford) is one of three characters who share in the majority of screen time. Also there is a character called Rex Mannings! (Go watch Empire Records to discover why Rex Manning Day is so important).

Despite the fact that these characters are all severely underdeveloped, the main performances are top notch. Daniel MacPherson does show an incredible amount of fear and does share a fantastic scene with Luke Ford where I am pretty sure they shared a joint beforehand. Ford is channeling Adam Baldwin in Firefly, but still makes the character his own. Harry Pavlidis gives the only endearing performance. I'm surprised that Grace Huang and Luke Hemsworth (older brother of Chris and Luke) got such high credit in the film because they are barely in it.

The film has done one thing well though. For a movie with a low budget, Abbess has made a great looking film. The shots are all expertly done and the CGI backgrounds are impressive considering most budget sci-fi flicks look pretty poor. Also Brian Cachia's score is impressive and it does give the film a sound that wouldn't be out of place in a big Hollywood blockbuster.

This debut from Aussie writer/director Abbess aims a little high to differentiate itself from other legends in the genre of sci-fi horror, but it feels a little ambitious for a first feature film. Despite settling into it's rhythm in the second act, the over the top science fiction elements and poor writing take away any enjoyment of the film.

Clouds of Sils Maria

Olivier Assayas is a highly intelligent filmmaker, and often draws on his roots as a critic for Cahiers du Cinéma in his highly structured stories. His latest film, Clouds of Sils Maria stars Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart.

Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is a successful actor, who began her career in the play Maloja Snake by Wilhelm Melchior. Enders and Melchior have a difficult past relationship and as Enders is travelling to Zurich to accept an award on his behalf, she hears the troubling news that he has passed away. Maria has a loyal assistant, Valentine (Kristen Stewart), and the two are very close; she helps Maria with the news. Soon Maria is offered a role in the latest version of the play, however she'll be playing an older woman.

This is a very French film. It revels in the revival of an artistic era that doesn't necessarily exist any more, subtly poking fun at the ways of Hollywood, superhero movies and celebrity gossip. These are starkly contrasted against the passion that the characters put into the play; in trying to understand the production's characters with long conversations detailing their various attributes. One of the key elements of Clouds of Sils Maria is the relationship between Maria and Valentine, and more specifically, how this is played on when they do the script read-throughs. These scenes are sometimes a bit tedious and difficult to follow - as the lines between the play's characters and the two women are quite blurred - but they are managed with a lot of finesse from Binoche and Stewart. There's certainly an element of art imitating life in the film; between the play, the film and also real life. However there are certain details that are not followed through, which at times can be slightly confusing. For instance, I would have liked to understand a bit more about what Maria thought of her past career. She's constantly focusing on her previous role in the play but doesn't really vocalise any of her other roles. 

Clouds of Sils Maria has a very dislocated structure, with scenes fading in and out with little to no actual transitions. It's a stylised choice and I understand the reasoning behind it but I'm not sure how effective it really is, at times it's certainly distracting. The grief that Maria feels at the playwrights passing (they had a very personal relationship) and the way that she deals with it through the reboot of the play, was one interesting element of the story that they probably could have brought out a bit more. However the subtlety in character development is certainly indicative of the intelligent writing behind Assayas's script. The mountainous backdrop almost becomes another character in Clouds of Sils Maria, it has an importance in contextualising the story and makes for some incredibly beautiful shots - particularly a time-lapse sequence where the fog rolls in - however I think they may have overindulged in the scenery just a little too much.

Clouds of Sils Maria is lead by two outstanding performances from Binoche and Stewart. Juliette Binoche is a veteran actress, and is just as talented here. She brings depth and no doubt, personal experiences to Maria, who is a much more memorable character than Dina in Words and Pictures, the last major role that I saw her in. Kristen Stewart, who many people like to mock for her seemingly expressionless delivery - I actually think she's had some great performances - really shines here. Her understated mode of acting works well for Valentine, whose calm and collected manner perfectly dichotomises Maria's emotional and vibrant personality. Maria and Valentine are two very memorable characters, an absolute requirement for this complex story to work.

Clouds of Sils Maria is a well-written and intelligent movie, with plenty of inspiration from French New Wave films. The palatable story is sometimes difficult to follow and won't necessarily please everybody, but the two leading ladies sustain the interest throughout. However I do feel like it's been written for critics, and I don't know how I feel about that narrowing down of audience.

Will Poulter to play Pennywise the Clown

So we finally have some news about the latest adaptation of Stephen King. His terrifying novel It has been floating around for a while now as something that is in the works and now we have some solid news as to who will be in the hopefully terrifying film.

Will Poulter (of We're The Millers fame) is apparently in talks to play the pants-shittingly scary clown Pennywise, who has already been played to perfection by Tim Curry in the 1990 TV miniseries adaptation.

Apparently this adaptation will follow the 1,138 page novel closer than the previous adaptation and will be darker and scarier as well. It is about a group of adults who come back to their hometown for a reunion and are followed by the same supernatural that haunted them as children. It is a truly scary monster and the main form it takes is that of Pennywise the Clown, because nothing is scarier than a clown.

Here's a gif of Pennywise laughing at your terror.

One Eyed Girl

Director Nick Matthews' debut feature is an incoherent mess of a film. This is sad for a first time director because you want to make a splash with your first film, but if this is the best he can do it's all downhill from here. Matthews tries to take on the subject of cults in rural Australia but ends up missing the mark by a long shot.

Travis (Mark Leonard Winter) is a hospital psychologist whose world is coming about after the suicide of one of his patients, Rachel (Katy Cheel). What makes her death particularly hard for Travis is that he was having an unorthodox sexual relationship with her. One day on the train, he is approached by Grace (Tilda Cobhem-Hervey) who belongs to a cult and she offers him a way out of his pain. Without too many options, Travis ends up joining the cult, led by the charismatic Father Jay (Steve Le Marquand), only to find not everything is what it seems.

Except that we never find out that anything bad is at play. The poor writing of this film leaves you confused about what is going on. There is no explicit explanation about what Father Jay really wants from his followers, although we do see him having sex with one of the young men in the cult, but that does not mean that he has nefarious designs on anyone else. The film's plot elements, especially early on, play out like a delirious fever dream, leaving the audience confused. There is no ultimate goal to any of the action and only the loosest of threads connect each scene to the one after it.

The characters are also extremely poorly written. I felt no sympathy for any of them, especially Travis, who is supposed to be the emotional centre. The character of Grace may have been intended as a glimmer of hope, but ends up fading into the background. Father Jay is given the most backstory, but no motivation over the course of the story. I only felt any emotion toward the character of Tom (played by co-writer Craig Behenna), Father Jay's second-in-command and that was just because he seemed like a nice enough guy or maybe because he was played by the person who wrote the film and therefore he'd know where that character is coming from.

Nick Matthews background as a cinematographer has definitely given this film a specific look, but that sometimes just adds to the confusion. The entire first thirty minutes is comprised almost completely of close ups and is quite disconcerting. I'm guessing that a large chunk of the budget also went to the aerial shots and while these are stunning, that money could have been better spent elsewhere.

A disappointing and lacklustre debut that will leave everyone confounded to the point of the whole endeavour. Matthews aims to make a film that is somewhere between the films Red State and The Master, but fails spectacularly.

Trailers Week 43: 03/05/15

Legend

This biopic from L.A. Confidential writer Brian Helgeland is about the notorious East End nightclub owners and gangsters the Kray twins. It looks like it is going to be one of those gritty crime dramas that hopefully portray London as it actually was. Tom Hardy will play the twins Ronnie and Reginald and will be supported by Emily Browning, Taron Egerton and Paul Bettany.

Demonic

Aussie director James Wan has been behind some of the biggest horror films of the last decade (Saw, The Conjuring and Insidious are all his), so it comes as no surprise that his latest flick looks just as terrifying. A group of ghost hunters go to a house where a mass murder happened and attempt to contact the spirits there. We can all guess what happens.

Irrational Man

It would seem that Emma Stone is Woody Allen's latest female muse, she joins a long list of ladies who have had the privilege. This new movie is about a philosophy professor who joins a new school and shakes things up, whilst dealing with his own sexual inabilities. This time Joaquin Phoenix takes up the mantle of Allen, with Stone, Parker Posey and Jamie Blackley.

Strangerland

This Aussie movie stars Nicole Kidman as a mother whose teenage daughter has gone missing and the strain this has on the relationships with the people around her. Also starring Joseph Fiennes, Hugo Weaving and Maddison Brown.

Wild Horses

Robert Duvall has written and directed this film that looks like it is about a man who has done something in the past and is going to finally pay for it. Starring Duvall, James Franco, Josh Hartnett, Adriana Barraza and Jim Parrack.

The Last Witch Hunter

Vin Diesel stars as the eponymous witch hunter as he battle modern day witches in New York City. Of course he is. Also starring Rose "You Know Nothing, Jon Snow" Leslie, Elijah Wood, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and Michael Caine.

Beyond The Brick: A Brickumentary

Jason Bateman narrates this doco about Lego. What more can I say?

Elsa & Fred

After a very delayed release, Michael Radford's romantic comedy Elsa & Fred has made it here to Australia. The film stars two giants of cinema, Shirley Maclaine and Christopher Plummer in the titular roles. But with a cheesy love-story about an elderly couple, this may be a case of wasted talent.

Set in New Orleans (although you'd never know it), Elsa & Fred follows Elsa (Shirley Maclaine) and Fred (Christopher Plummer), two elderly residents in an apartment building that are opposites in every possible way. Fred is a recent widow and has been forced to move by his daughter, Lydia (Marcia Gay Harden), he's bitter and takes a morbid view on life. Elsa, who's next door, often seems to live in her own dreamy romantic state. She consistently lies to paint a better picture of herself, and dreams of Rome, taking the persona of Anita Ekberg in the film La Dolce Vita. After what seems like an incredibly short period of time, these two opposites attract (*spoiler alert* if you haven't seen the poster.)

This is one of the corniest movies I've ever had to sit through. It tells a story that's been told a thousand times before, the elderly couple hitting it off, opposites attracting etc, and it's been told better before. Clearly I'm not the intended audience, but similar films like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel series manage to pitch down to a broader audience. The film is a remake of a Spanish-Argentine film of the same name, perhaps it's better, I don't know. They try to draw attention away from the clichés by subverting the stereotypes to make it more interesting. Look at Elsa, she's an eccentric elderly woman who listens to rap music, how original! Give me a break, you can feel the manipulation. The climax of Elsa & Fred I actually quite liked, but it's still extremely corny. The romantic story is a sweet premise but the delivery is appalling. At one point in the film, Elsa's artistic son unveils a painting that he calls "explosion of pain". Watching the film is not far off.

There are a lot of well-established actors attached to this feature. Not the least of whom, Shirley Maclaine and Christopher Plummer. I must say, they do extraordinarily well for the content they're provided with. But this pales in comparison to many of the memorable films they've starred in over the years. Marcia Gay Harden is one of those incredible talents who sadly gets underused in a lot of films, and once again she is here. Chris Noth, Scott Bakula and James Brolin are all similarly talented but they bring about as much to the story as their equivalent cardboard cut-outs would. All of the great talent here push it as far as the material will allow, unfortunately it's just not very much.

The message of Elsa and Fred is that 'It's never too late'. Unfortunately, if you've entered the cinema for this one, it already is.