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.