Ben-Hur

The biblical epic is a genre that belongs to a specific time and place in history and that place is Hollywood of the 1950s and 60s, a time when movies could go for over three hours and people would lap it up because you had nothing better to do. Movies like The Ten Commandments, Spartacus and the original Ben-Hur are all classics that really do stand the test of time. Which is why it feels unnecessary to go back and "have another try at the story". That would only be justified if you did it better. That's not the case here.

Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston) is a Jewish prince living a comfortable life in Jerusalem with his family. He has an adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), who was a Roman orphan before being taken in by the Hur family. One day, he decides to leave and join the Roman Army to prove his worth as a wife for Judah's sister Tirzah (Sofia Black D'Elia). He returns however, to quell rebels who wish to overthrow the Romans and make Judea free. After an attempt on Governor Pontius Pilate's (Pilou Asbæk) life, Judah is accused by Messala of harbouring zealots and sentenced to labour on a Roman galley. During a battle, his ship is destroyed and he is set adrift, only to be found by Sheik Ilderim (Morgan Freeman), who agrees to free him for help with his chariot horses. After hearing his story, the Sheik agrees to help Judah get his revenge against Messala.

This movie really feels like a bare bones remake of the classic 1959 film. The basic story structure is there, but none of the details that made that movie "classic" are there. From the very start of the movie we know that we are building to the ultimate chariot race showdown between the two brothers, which takes away any of the suspense or surprise at the story that is to come. While the story tries to be epic in its scope, it seems to be on the lesser end because not as many events take place in this movie, which seems counter intuitive. Another big departure from the classic version is the extended presence of Jesus. In the older movie he was limited to the "Drink up, Judah Ben-Hur" scene. (That line is not said in either movies, but a quote from "A Star Is Burns (see below)).

A representation for all those who don't want to watch the clip from the actual movie

While the scene happens almost exactly as it did in the original, it isn't the first time we see Jesus. In fact, his first appearance is pretty laughable. Judah and his wife Esther (played by Nazanin Boniadi) are talking about violent removal of the Romans and he starts to talk about peace in the background, whilst doing some carpentry. It's very on the nose. Apparently the reason he was added was due to the negative reactions from Christians about 2014's Noah. I have to say that the casting of Rodrigo Santoro was an inspired touch. Now he has played the baddest of bads (Xerxes in 300) and the goodest of goods (Jesus).

Rodrigo Santoro is pretty much the only good casting decision of this film. Except for maybe Toby Kebbell as Messala. This had more to do with the fact that Messala was a somewhat sympathetic character. Before leaving for the Roman Army, he is shunned by his adoptive mother and other Romans, so he is just trying to prove his worth throughout the movie. Jack Huston is supposed to be the star of this movie (and also have the weight that Charlton Heston had), but he is outshone by his costars, especially Morgan Freeman. Danish actor Pilou Asbæk seemed like a bit of a wildcard decision.

Ben-Hur is trying to live up to something it will never achieve, which is the case with most remakes. Its lacklustre story that tries too hard to whittle it down to a manageable story feels hollow and in the era of CGI, the stakes are incredibly low in the final chariot race. If you really feel like you need to watch this story, go back and watch the original one with a great performance from Charlton Heston.

In Memorium: Gene Wilder 1933-2016

2016 continues to wage its vicious war against beloved stars with the sad news today that Gene Wilder has passed at age 83. He had been suffering from Alzheimers.

Many might only know him as the fun but enigmatic Willy Wonka, or perhaps from his work with Mel Brooks in The Producers, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, but the late great comic, actor, writer and director's career spanned over five decades. 

Wilder first appeared as Eugene Grizzard in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, and the very next year picked up a leading role in the classic comedy The Producers, along with his first Academy Award nomination. In 1971 he took Roald Dahl's most famous character to the silver screen with his memorable, unrepeatable performance in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory which has spawned a cult following and worthy place in meme culture in the decades since. In 1974 he worked again with Brooks on both Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, two extremely different roles that he made his own, and that you couldn't possibly imagine anybody else as. 

Rest in Peace Mr Wilder, there's no earthly way of knowing, which direction you are going - but wherever that is, we salute you.

Trailers Week 112: 28/08/16

Rings

It's been 11 years since Hollywood made a Ring movie, but for some reason it needs to be made again in the smartphone era. I don't think she'll be able to crawl out of your iPhone, not unless she'll be really small.

Blair Witch

Instead of being a paranoid fear of something you can never see, the Blair Witch becomes an actual thing.

The Disappointments Room

I bet the real disappointment will be that she gets inside the room and there's nothing there. Or even better, Tommy Wiseau.

Jack Goes Home

Oh Rory, the youngest of Culkins. I guess this is a horror too. I mean Lin Shae is pretty scary.

Lion

Dev Patel does a pretty awesome Australian accent in this movie about a young Indian man who was adopted and wants to find his family.

A United Kingdom

David Oyelowo goes for Oscar gold again with this biopic of the first president of Botswana, Seretse Khama.

Kidnap

At first I thought this was going to be a regular drama, but an action-thriller about a kidnapping. I'm not sure if I should be impressed or not.

Manchester by the Sea

This movie about a guy finding himself seems original enough. I don't know how I'd deal with being given my nephew to look after.

The Late Bloomer

The most appealing part of this is JK Simmons reactions to having his grown son go through puberty.

My Blind Brother

Does Adam Scott kinda look like Tom Cruise to anyone else in this trailer.

La La Land

Every trailer for Damian Chazelle's new musical gives away nothing but singing.

War Dogs

Movies about getting rich from war are few and far between and when they come out, they aren't exactly hits. The only two that I could think of were Lord of War and Three Kings, both of which show that in the end nothing works out the way you planned. The thing with those movies is that they were completely made up. So what happens when you take one of the real stories about arms trafficking and you make a comedy about it. A whole lot of nothing special.

David Packouz (Miles Teller) is trying to make a living off his massage business in Miami. He wishes things could be better, but he just can't figure it out. That's when he meets his childhood friend Efraim (Jonah Hill) for the first time in years. Efraim has a business in which he sells weapons and various other military equipment to the government through defence contracts. This business becomes quite lucrative and soon they are at the top of the industry. This is until they meet Henry Girardi (Bradley Cooper), who offers them 'help' on one of the biggest contracts in history.

The fact that War Dogs is based on a true story is somewhat restrictive in what you can do with this movie. Todd Phillips has made an attempt to stick as close to the actual story and as a result the movie ends up a little bland. While the story takes the characters to exotic places like Iraq and Albania, Las Vegas and Miami, the events of the movie are kind of boring. A movie like this needs to be crazy and over the top, and this only verges on both of those. A lot of the movie is spent talking about the economics of war and looking at websites for arms contracts and I'm sure a documentary about that would be very interesting, but this is supposed to be an action comedy.

Speaking of the comedy, War Dogs doesn't have too many funny moments and when there are some, they tend to be negated by the seriousness of the events. Todd Phillips' comedy is really about what happens when you put characters in crazy situations and you see their reactions (a road trip to stop a sex tape or experience your baby being born, losing a best friend) and this situation isn't at all surprising or shocking. The funniest recurring thing throughout the film is probably Jonah Hill's choice of laugh, but you know when that's coming.

As for the performances, there isn't anything too exciting going on unless you want to unravel the mysteries of Miles Teller's facial scars that are so distracting. He seems a bit too bland to me, as though he's a blank canvas ready for a character to superimposed, but nothing comes. As I said, Jonah Hill has a very specific laugh that he chose for this movie and that's about the only standout he gives to the character. For me, the most interesting performances were given by Ana de Armas and Bradley Cooper, who both have very little impact on the story. While Ana de Armas, who plays David's girlfriend, gives him a little character motivation, she has a big screen presence. The other presence felt is that of Bradley Cooper, who despite having minimal screen time, is a menacing force throughout the second half of the movie.

Unlike Lord of War, which knew the lives of arms dealers were crazy (why else put Nic Cage in it), War Dogs tries too hard to follow the real events that it's covering, almost as if saying "trust us, true stories are way wilder than something we could come up with". And while that may be true of many crazy real-life exploits, it's not the case with this one. Instead you end up wishing they had made up some more exciting things to pad out the movie.

Down Under

How do you make a comedy about one of the darkest days in Australia’s history? Writer/Diretor Abe Forsythe tries to tackle the challenge with the Cronulla Riots in his latest film Down Under.

It’s the day after the Cronulla riots and the suburb is still on edge. Shit-stick (Alexander England), a stoner who works at Blockbuster, is doing a terrible job teaching his cousin Evan (Chris Bunton) who has down-syndrome, how to drive. Shit-stick’s racist friend Jason (Damon Herriman) arrives, announcing that it’s time to go “beat up some Wogs”, and they’re promptly joined by Ned Kelly enthusiast Ditch (Justin Rosniak). Armed with a World War I rifle and a rusty grenade, they think they’re about to do their country proud.

Over in Lakemba, frustrated Nick (Rahel Romahn) attempts to recruit his intellectual friend Hassim (Lincoln Younes) to join himself, devout Muslim Ibrahim (Michael Denkha) and their rapping mate D-Mac (Fayssal Bazzi) in a raid on the Shire, to teach the ‘White Aussies’ that they’re a force to be reckoned with. Over the course of the day and night, these two car-loads of idiots from both sides of the cultural gap prepare to force their version of the revolution that the riots ignited.

Down Under is absolutely one of those films that will split audiences, just as it has critics. One of this blog’s patron Saints, David Stratton, doesn’t think it’s particularly funny, and sorry David but I have to disagree. Forsythe consistently treads the thin line between satire and derision, which is the formula that makes this film work. This could quite well be one of the most offensive films I’ve seen, channeling a mix of shock comedy, dark humour, sad reality and that good old Australian proverb, the C-Bomb - a combination that not everybody will be able to stomach, especially given the subject matter. There were no walk-outs at my screening - probably because you have to brace yourself for what you’re going into - but a lot of heavy sighs, amongst a barrel-load of laughter

Yes it has the dry-wit and irony that has often defined the Australian sense of humour, but where Down Under draws itself apart from similar satire-pieces like The Castle, or Kenny is its insistence that all the characters - bar perhaps Evan - exist as just different levels of antagonist. Ultimately the film (and its portrayal of racism in Australia) hinges on its ability to scathingly paint these hateful eight as petty, idiotic and juvenile, which it succeeds in doing. It feels a bit like watching the lead-up to a school-yard brawl.

An unexpected pleasure as well is some of the small artistic touches and creative moments that are scattered throughout. Some don’t entirely pay off - such as a run-in with an extremely flamboyant drug dealer that quickly escalates into a weird moment of violently homoerotic tension in a way that’s neither really funny, nor offensive - but others work well to add to the satire, particularly brief montages such as the souped-up, eureka-branded hoon-mobile doing donuts in slow-motion to Kelis’ ‘Milkshake’. Moments like this and the other well integrated pieces of pop-music from the era allow Down Under to paint a pretty accurate picture of Sydney circa-2005. Although I was, quite frankly, disgusted that they chose to use the modern Doritos packaging. Show me where in your artistic licence, good sir, that it gives you permission to distort such a fine and cheesy triangular corn chip brand! *Not a Sponsor*

Other parts of Down Under weren’t so great. The climax, whilst ultimately the direction that the film needed to go, wasn’t particularly well executed - missing an opportunity to challenge the audience's emotions into some sort of much needed catharsis - and the strong anti-racism message that the film works so hard to set-up, starts to get lost in the effort to tie things up for the conclusion

Down Under is a devilishly hilarious, well meaning, often sobering piece of satire that gives a lot of other dark comedies a run for their money. It might not be as hard-hitting as it could have been and will probably go over the heads of the audience it’s really trying to target, but if you appreciate this kind of humour it’s absolutely worth your time.

Trailers Week 111: 21/08/16

Priceless

One guy thinks he can take down a human trafficking ring that seems to only be trafficking two girls. Also Jim Parrack is way too white to be Mexican.

Voyage of Time

Who's ready to hear the history of the universe narrated by Brad Pitt?

Sully

Another IMAX trailer, but for the movie about crashing a plane into a river. Who else is unconvinced by Aaron Eckhart's moustache?

Hands of Stone (NSFW)

This movie about boxers seems to have more sex than fighting. This is a weird way to make a trailer.

Moonlight

Movies about growing up usually try to look at the fun times, but this one is certainly about the serious times.

Same Kind of Different as Me

A family that has drifted apart is brought back together by a homeless man that one of them dreamed about.

American Honey

So let me get this straight, somehow meeting Shia LaBouef in a Walmart can lead to the American Dream if you get in his car.

Arrival

Another alien movie where they arrive and make us fight amongst ourselves so that they can just take over. Why do they always go to America first? I'm glad no one else has that responsibility.

The Good Neighbour

You see what happens when you try to prank a murderer? More murdering. It's a vicious cycle.

When the Bough Breaks

Jealousy isn't going to help anyone in this situation.

Hidden Figures

This one is about the forgotten black women who helped on the NASA space missions of the 1960s.

The Shallows

Over the past half-decade, the lone-actor, often single-location survival film genre has taken off with films like Moon, Buried, 127 Hours, Life of Pi, Gravity, and for me the most memorable; All is Lost. On the opposite side of the spectrum, we arguably haven’t seen a truly great (non-parody) shark film in recent memory. Jaume Collet-Serra’s tries to bring those two concepts together with The Shallows.

Nancy Adams (Blake Lively) is a medical student who’s travelling to a secluded Mexican beach that her late mother had surfed at after finding out that she was pregnant with her. With the help of a local, Carlos (Óscar Jaenada), Nancy reaches the beach, meets two other locals, and cue surfing montage. It begins to get late and the locals head home, but Nancy stays out to catch one last wave. Unfortunately for her, a great white shark catches her first. Her left leg is badly chewed, but she manages to make it to a small reef that’s exposed at low tide and treat her leg as best as possible. But the tide’s coming in, nobody knows she’s there, and the shark is still circling.

Let’s start with the positives. The Shallows displays Collet-Serra’s expert grasp of tension-building. We saw it in Non-Stop and it’s almost as effective here, where every desperate swim Nancy makes comes down to the wire. Whilst this becomes a fairly obvious technique, it never-the-less is able to keep you at least near to the edge of your seat. The film also borrows heavily from that squirmy ‘nerve’ scene in 127 Hours, except Collet-Serra spreads it out across The Shallows. As such, you get plenty of points where the audiovisual bombardment builds a ‘grinding-your-teeth’ level visceral experience. The main body of the film overall is actually pretty well-constructed.

However, as soon as Collet-Serra tries to attach a strong character and story to the action, The Shallows starts to show its weaknesses. I talked about a predicted trend of films that pander to a GoPro/action-cam audience in my review of the pitiful Point Break remake, and this is another of those sorts of films. Not only is a GoPro central to the plot of the film, but Nancy Adams is one of those ‘let’s drop out of university and go live life on a beach because YOLO’ sorts of people that I find particularly annoying. I’m sure others will have the opposite reaction, and I suppose it’s my fault for going to see a film about a sport that I tend to stereotype as full of douche-bags, but it doesn’t do much to draw an outside audience like myself to empathise with the characters. Speaking of stereotypes, the sleepy/drunk/layabout Mexican cliche gets thrown about a surprising amount in The Shallows, particularly in a horrifically comic scene, so take from that what you will.

A lot of the back story is told through an exposition heavy FaceTime call that Nancy makes before entering the water, and in general there’s a lot of annoying showing off with social-media overlays throughout the setup of the film. The story and characters didn’t do anything for me - although Blake Lively’s performance is surprisingly good considering this - and the climax is a little too conceited to really pay off. There are little frustrating moments like a way-too pandering tribute to the Jaws finale as well as a tacked-on epilogue that felt like it was tying up loose ends and tinging the film with a carpe diem message that it would have been stronger without.

The Shallows was filmed in our very own neck of the woods in New South Wales, Australia and around Lord Howe Island. I was surprised to read that a lot of the film was done in a tank because if this film exceeds at one thing it’s making the location feel real. Apart from the odd ridiculous shot and far too much drone footage, this is a really good looking film, especially in its use of space and minimalism. They also make sure that those who go to see The Shallows for Blake Lively in a bikini certainly get a lot of...ermm..content.

The Shallows is a decent popcorn thriller when it sticks to being just that. If you can suffer through the sob-stories, millennial pandering, and the poorly fleshed-out characters, you’ll find a good handful of enjoyable moments, just don’t expect it to be next Jaws.

Sausage Party

Cartoons for adults have popped up more and more in recent years with TV shows like BoJack Horseman, Rick and Morty and Archer being really popular examples, so it makes sense that that popularity should spill over into movies. And who better to make such a movie than Seth Rogen and his crew of comedy friends. At first glance, the trailer makes Sausage Party look like the same old movie from these guys, but it is actually really funny and original.

The day in a supermarket begins with all the items singing a song about "The Great Beyond", a magical place where you go when one of the gods (humans) buys you and you can live in harmony with them. Frank (Seth Rogen) and his girlfriend Brenda (Kristen Wiig) are excited to be picked because of "Red, White and Blue Day" and they know that they will finally be together. Everything is going okay, until Honey Mustard (Danny McBride), who has returned from "The Great Beyond" and knows the truth, is put in the cart. He attempts suicide and as a result a whole bunch of items are thrown from the cart, including Frank, Brenda, Sammy Bagel, Jr (Edward Norton), Kareem Abdul Lavosh (David Krumholtz) and Douche (Nick Kroll). In the mess that results, Douche is severely injured (his nozzle is bent) and makes it his mission to take his revenge on Frank who just wants to get back to his shelf.

With all those characters, especially Douche, it sounds like Sausage Party is just filled with childish, infantile jokes that would only appeal to teenage boys. But it actually has a lot of jokes that go beyond that. A large chunk of the movie is dedicated to relationship between Kareem Abdul Lavosh and Sammy Bagel, Jr and is used as an allegory for the current Arab-Israeli situation (the Halal food was in their aisle first, but then the Kosher food just had to start taking over). There's actually a lot of this us and them mentality in the film that mirrors real life, everything from more land disputes (Firewater (Bill Hader) says that the supermarket used to be all Native American before other foods came in and took it away), historical genocides (the sauerkraut wants to eliminate all the juice) and even the blind acceptance of religious belief. It's not all real life, a lot of pop culture is made fun of too. My favourite was when the classic Meat Loaf song "I Would Do Anything For Love" is sung by, well, a meat loaf.

This is what we're doing to bacon? It almost makes me not want to eat it.

The characters in this are so fun to watch because special care has gone into creating nearly every single grocery item (both from a character and animation point of view). All the foods are the nationality that they represent, and while this can make for some cultural stereotypes, it's still pretty funny. Salma Hayek's lesbian taco is a bit too obvious but very fun to see (well, hear) such a big star in this role. The same goes for Edward Norton. I had no idea it was him, I actually thought it was Woody Allen. My favourite character was the villain Douche because his characterisation of a fraternity brother who just wanted to get juiced or jacked the whole time made complete sense. Another favourite was the Stephen Hawking style gum who had his own wheelchair and provided the heroes with vital information.

While Sausage Party is crass and vulgar at times, it's also really original. Who would've thought a movie about grocery items would be funny let alone evocative of history and current events (to be fair, it does gloss over these things). Overall, it's a top notch comedy and it's great to be able to go see how far animation has come without having to go to a movie for kids.

Trailers Week 110: 14/08/16

Brother Nature

Let's start of this week with some light-hearted fun. This SNL produced comedy is about a junior politician who has to spend a week with his girlfriend's family. It turns out her sister's boyfriend is more excited than anyone to meet him. I'm not ashamed to say that this is the type of thing I find really funny.

Bad Santa 2 (NSFW)

In this rather expletive filled trailer, we get a better look at the return of Billy Bob's Santa who is back to his old thieving ways.

War on Everyone

I think Alexander Skårsgard and Michael Peña may just be the best buddy cop duo ever.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The most appealing part of this trailer for me is seeing that old school Star Wars technology but with our modern visual effects. Very exciting.

Resident Evil: The Last Chapter

I know a couple of my friends who will balk at this statement, but I've never gotten the Resident Evil movies. Are they zombies, is it just a weird virus, make up your mind. At least it's finally over.

Allied

How WWII movies has Brad Pitt been in. This one looks more dramatic than his action and comedy adventures, and I've never seen one where he has so many swastikas around him.

Complete Unknown

It's pretty messed up to leave someone's life and then try and wheedle your way back into it again.

The Sea of Trees

Acclaimed director Gus Van Sant brings us this hardcore movie about a couple going through a potential future death.

Classic Movie Review: Planet of the Apes (1968)

It's not often that we review a classic movie that is actually a classic. Although Planet of the Apes has one of the biggest legacies of any movie, it's more of a forgotten classic. People know what the movie is without actually having seen it. In fact I went for twenty years of my life knowing the general idea (thanks in part to The Simpsons) and I think that is the case for most of the people my age.

Taylor (Charlton Heston) is the leader of space crew tasked with finding a new planet for the people of Earth to inhabit. He and his crew are put into suspended animation and while the light-speed journey lasts only eighteen months for the crew, three thousand years have passed on Earth. The ship crash lands in a watery canyon on a seemingly deserted planet. They escape ship and travel for many days until they encounter primitive humans who have no form of communication. Soon it is revealed that the dominant form of life on this planet are apes, who begin to hunt the humans. Taylor and his crew are caught up in the hunt and soon he is the only one left, having been shot in the throat and unable to talk. He is taken to Ape City, where he attracts the attention of Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter), an animal psychologist who soon recognises that Taylor is unlike any of the other humans there. She and her fiancé Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) start to study him, but come under the scrutiny of the sinister Dr. Zaius (James Whitmore) who knows that Taylor could threaten the power system that holds ape society together.

Planet of the Apes is actually a very political movie. The whole thing can be seen as an allegory for the racial discrimination that was prevalent up until the 1960s, as the humans could easily be substituted for black people. While they aren't used as slaves, they are considered animals by the apes. This would make a lot of sense since Charlton Heston was a big advocate for the Civil Rights movement. Another thing this movie makes an argument against is the separation of church and state. In it, Dr. Zaius is both the leader of the scientific institute and high up in the ape's religious order. He has a direct interest in not wanting apekind to find out the truth that they weren't divinely made and rather came from a lesser species. That's pretty progressive stuff to pack into a movie. It is also critical of the United States' military industrial complex, given that the final scene is the realisation that war on Earth when he left resulted in man killing each other to the brink of extinction. At least that's what it was prior to the current series of reboot movies.

The performances in this movie have to be praised so much. While Charlton Heston gives one of the best performances of his career and also spouts three of the most famous movie quotes of all time ("Get your stinking paws of me, you damn dirty ape!", "It's a madhouse! A madhouse" and "Damn you, you blew it all to hell!"), the real praise has to be given to the actors playing the apes. Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter and James Whitmore all had top of the line prosthetic masks of the day, so much so that they couldn't really emote much except with their eyes, but they all manage to make their characters feel real and believable.

The legacy of this movie is amazing. It spawned four direct sequels after this (Beneath, Escape, Conquest and Battle), a ill-advised Tim Burton remake starring Mark Wahlberg, a more recent reboot franchise and countless TV shows and references in other pop-culture (like The Simpsons crutch I've been using throughout this review). It also manages to do so well what science fiction is supposed to do, be a social critique.

Suicide Squad

This may have been the most difficult review I've written to date. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, almost everyone would have by now seen the initial reviews of Suicide Squad, most of which seem to be taking the Worst Heroes Ever tagline into the Worst Film Ever territory. With all the negative chatter going on around this film, I wanted to add a more comprehensive and maybe slightly lighter review to the pile as someone who has been looking forward to this film since its inception. Unpopular opinions may appear below.

Suicide Squad, headed by an A-List cast including Will Smith, Jared Leto, Cara Delevingne and Viola Davis (also including Aussie talents Margot Robbie and Jai Courtney), brings together the wacky and weird in the continuation of the slow-to-get-on-its-feet DC Film Universe.  After the events of Batman V Superman, Amanda Waller (Davis) presents the US Government with an important and frightening conundrum: What if a being such as Superman, a being with unlimited power and superiority, decided to destroy the world without warning? Who on our planet could possibly be strong enough to stop them? Enter Task Force X, otherwise known as the Suicide Squad, a ragtag group of criminals each with their own unique and terrifying abilities, thrown together with the promise of time off their sentences if they cooperate and providing the Government with the perfect scapegoat if they fail. Faced with the constant threat of imminent death, the team (under the watchful eye of their reluctant leader Commander Rick Flag a.k.a. Joel Kinnaman) must join together to stop a force more powerful than any of them could ever imagine, and perhaps wreak a little havoc along the way.

The positives: Call me a fangirl, but this film was just fun to watch. These characters, each positively insane in their own ways, are very entertaining and work really well together on screen. Its clear that the (supposed) emotional turmoil director David Ayer put the cast through paid off, as all the characters had great chemistry with each other and were as believable as a bunch of off kilter teammates can be. Standouts however had to be Robbie’s Harley Quinn (no surprises there, most people already loved her in the trailers) who delivers the right amount of instability with equal parts charm and class, and Smith’s Deadshot, who is surprisingly one of the most humanising characters and starts to become an anchor for the group. As well as the pair, Davis' Amanda Waller was both sadistic and entertaining as well, bringing her all to the table and making us all question which side we're really on. The biggest surprise here had to be Jai Courtney’s ‘Captain Boomerang’: I’m not sure if I’m biased because I’m an Australian, but I really resonated with his character and enjoyed that mannerisms and blunt Australian humour. As well as this, the action sequences were a visual eyeful and gave each character their fighting moment to shine.

The negatives: The main issue with this film (and this seems to be a reoccurring issue with films lately) is once again, the pacing. Whereas Man of Steel and Batman V Superman were far too slow in the narrative structure making them feel like films that seemed to go nowhere, this film is equally as choppy and badly edited, making it feel as though its trying to go everywhere at once. Its understandable that with such a vast array of characters the issue of giving everyone equal weight in the film can be tricky, however I thought this was an issue that may have been resolved by the re-shoots done before its release. While the story was fun to see play out, it wasn’t the best that could’ve been done for such a rich and engaging subject matter as the Squad. As well as this, I can’t write a review without mentioning DC’s new Joker: if you’re thinking this is a Joker-centred film, you’re off by a long shot. His presence in the film is limited, playing more of a wildcard who throws a spanner in the works rather than a central character. While I enjoyed Jared Leto’s performance as a step away from previous Jokers (the idea of the Joker as a mob boss figure in underground Gotham hence Batsy’s vendetta against him refreshes the character), his performance wasn’t groundbreaking enough to warrant all the pre-film behaviour that went on, such as sending the cast dead hogs and (apparently) peeing into Will Smith’s breakfast. I can understand method acting, and I would've understood if the performance was Oscar-worthy, but the shenanigans just don't match the performance. Maybe this is because a lot of his performance was cut out? We'll just have to wait and see.

Although this film has a lot of negatives and needs some work, you can’t ignore the fact that this film has heart and is a fun ride from start to finish. The characters are entertaining, the acting from the big names is believable and enjoyable, and the characterisation makes logical sense (unlike some of the previous DC films released, looking at you Batman V Superman). As a side note, the soundtrack is also excellent. Is it the best film in existence? No. Could you play a drinking game involving this film and the phrase ‘We’re the bad guys/We’re bad guys’? Yes. But overall, its one of those films that you’ll either love, hate, or love to hate. It’s not the Suicide Squad film we deserve, but maybe it’s the one we need right now, and the good news is it’s a step in the right direction for the future of DC. 

Trailers Week 109: 07/08/16

Emily and Tim

This indie romance is about one couple over the 60 years they've been together, but played by twelve different actors throughout six stories. That's a pretty cool concept to bring to a film.

Two Lovers and a Bear

This next romance flick starts off sweet enough, but soon turns rather sinister. And it's not the bear's fault.

Storks

Here's a look at what all that romancing will result in. No, not really. Those storks are no longer in the baby business.

Finding Altamira

This is about the discovery of cave paintings that dated back to prehistoric times. Surely science had come so far that religious people couldn't refute them.

Dunkirk

Finally a brief glimpse at Christopher Nolan's epic about the evacuation at Dunkirk. It kind of goes against the grain of his regular movies, but it will be interesting to see regardless.

Classic Movie Review: Deep Blue Sea (1999)

When you think of a classic shark movie, Jaws is the one that jumps to most people's minds. But in the late 90s along came this updated horror flick that took the idea of shark horror to a whole new level. It's one thing to have a 25-foot Great White terrorise some townspeople, but the threat of three genetically engineered supersharks getting out and terrorising the whole world is a lot more terrifying. And while these sharks may not benefit from the dodgy 90s CGI or budget Waterworld setting, they certainly didn't hurt the reputation of shark movies (no, that was something that Sharknado did expertly).

Set off the coast of California on the aquatic base Aquatica (clever), this horror movie follows a skeleton crew of scientists and others led by Dr. Susan McAlestar (Saffron Burrows) and Jim Whitlock (Stellan Skårsgard) who are experimenting with the brain tissue of sharks. They have genetically engineered three Mako sharks who have grown to massive size in an attempt to extract some of restorative brain tissue to help with human brain diseases such as Alzheimer's. But the company funding the experiment are skeptical and send along Russell Franklin (Samuel L. Jackson) to check on the science and safety of the experiments. But it suddenly goes horribly wrong when the sharks are discovered to have a high intelligence and fight back. Luckily shark wrangler Carter Blake (Thomas Jane) is more than capable of leading the crew to safety.

First and foremost, Deep Blue Sea is chock full of references to Jaws, but not in a jokey way. Rather it is extremely reverential to that movie and is almost admitted to never reach the heights of that film. This definitely takes the pressure off of it to try and achieve that greatness. Some of these references include a tiger shark that is identical to the one that is mistakenly caught at the beginning of Jaws and has the same licence plate caught in its mouth. Also the three sharks are killed in identical ways to the first three Jaws movies, but in reverse order (they didn't count Jaws: The Revenge because that would be just silly). These are incineration, electrocution and of course blowing up, which everyone should at least know.

Not pictured: you know, a shark

But it's not just sharks that get killed in creative ways. Admittedly there aren't too many variations for a shark to kill a person, but this movie endeavours at least to try. Stellan Skårsgard is the first to go and has it the roughest, first having his arm bitten off, then pulled under the water and then smashed against an underwater plate glass window. That's a bit of a lousy explanation, but here's him getting his arm bitten off (that comes with a huge NSFW warning). Others include Samuel L. Jackson getting cut off during his rousing survival speech and a fantastic moment of un-Hollywoodness when the female lead gets eviscerated. Okay perhaps I'm making this film out to be way more gory than it is. By today's standards it's incredibly tame, with plenty of that late 90s/early 2000's action that seems so satisfying. Like diving and sliding along hard surfaces. It's never made sense to me, but my god nearly every character does it in this movie.

Deep Blue Sea is an essential viewing for anyone really, just as much as Jaws is. It's a serious and well handled horror flick, that while it may not have aged as well as the aforementioned classic (it has plenty of laugh out loud moments), it's a huge step above whatever shark movies they're making today. After rewatching it, there is definitely room for an unrelated prequel about Sam Jackson's character and his survival of an avalanche.

Love & Friendship

With an unexpected amount of satire and snark, Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship impresses audiences with a fresh take on some classic Jane Austen literature (no zombies needed for this one). Love & Friendship is a romantic comedy disguised as a pre-Victorian drama, with the structure and atmosphere of the movie mirroring that of a theatre play. Mixing quick witted dialogue with old-timey English speech in a game of sociopolitical chess creates an enjoyable and unique cinema experience for all viewers of this movie.

In the late 18th century, flirtatious widow Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale) finds herself in a social trough following the death of her husband. In a calm struggle for power, she looks to win the heart of young bachelor Reginald De Courcy (Xavier Samuel), while at the same time solidifying control over her highly contested daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark). With the powers of various highborn families of England at play, Love & Friendship displays a layered sociopolitical conflict hidden calmly under the guise of one-upmanship in seemingly respectful and proper public affairs, with comedic value often found in these displays throughout the film.

Kate Beckinsale is the clear star of the show, with her portrayal of Lady Susan being both elegant and proper as a woman of stature, as well snappy and sharp-witted as a social player. Beckinsale proves both her flexibility and experience as an actress and creates a strong base performance for the rest of the cast to build off. While some background characters aren't entirely as convincing, the supporting cast does well to build off Beckinsale's lead and impress across the board. Notable performances come from  Chloë Savigny as Lady Susan's amiable yet equally manipulative American friend Alicia Johnson, as well as a surprisingly enjoyable showing from Tom Bennett, who plays an incompetent and socially inept bachelor. While the performances are solid, the real praise should go to the screenplay of Whit Stillman, for creating a Mean Girls-esque vibe of snappiness and banter that we can only hope really existed in these historical times.

As aforementioned, Love & Friendship views somewhat as a theatre play, with character introductions, title cards and musical transitions. The actual scenes of the film are void of any musical score, with authentic classical pieces only accompanying these transitions between different scenes or locations. The simple editing, both musical and otherwise, create a genuine feel to the film, with believable costumes and location adding to this feeling. In all aspects, the movie feels like a bona fide classical English story, while also managing to incorporate the wit and dynamism of modern day.

While at first glimpse Love & Friendship may seem like a standard and possibly boring classical English movie, in practice it is anything but. Combining romance with wit and comedy in a historical setting results in this film feeling both authentic and accurate as well as strangely familiar and modern, and audiences can expect to come out of a viewing with a pleasant feeling of satisfaction, whether they are a fan of the historical genre or not.