Reel Review Roundup

The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (M)

Directed by: Harald Zwart

Starring: Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Zegers,

Two and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Who says comedies shouldn’t be longer than two hours? Not technically classed as a comedy, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones clocks up more guffaws than the recent Red 2 (heck, Schindler’s List was funnier than that lazy sequel). And I am not just talking about the unintentional howlers either. The one saving grace for this Twilight wannabe, teen pandering bag of mystical mumbo jumbo is its sense of humour – and its gawd-awful dialogue, acting and direction. While most cringe at the thought of the next Judd Apatow running longer than his last comedy, the 134 minute This Is 40 (though it was shorter than his 146 minute epic Funny People), the consistent stream of hilarity make this 130 minute fantasy zip by. Not that I am praising poor film making, but how can one stay mad at something so long and so incompetent, that remains deliriously entertaining (for all the wrong reasons) without once forcing you to check your watch or suss out the nearest exit?

This somewhat coming of age story about identity (I can’t believe I am justifying its silly story with meaning) has coffee-house hanging Brooklyn teen Clary Fray (Lily Collins) discover, when she witnesses the murder of an invisible man (only she can see him and his attackers) and her secretive mother is abducted, that she is actually a shadowhunter. That’s part angel, part human. This is relevant because the people who have her mother are after a precious cup (yes, a cup) that is apparently a mighty powerful tool that Clary and her new shadowhunter pals must keep safe.

There is so much more to this story than my three sentence synopsis suggests with werewolves, vampires, a pants-less ally, and a blue portal. But then again, much of the exposition is repeated so regularly that maybe there isn’t all that much going on at all. Regardless, this starts out surprisingly well, for about the first 15 minutes. The mystery is suggested immediately with promise of an interesting revelation that convinces the audiences that it would be worth their time to continue watching. But it very soon begins to fall apart, slowly but surely. Clary preferring to fill her apartment with gas to blow up her first demon encounter while taking refuge in her fridge, as opposed to exiting the home, is an early clue where this is heading. But it isn’t just the baffling visual aspect – the dialogue is also mind bogglingly bad. Clary reacts to an underground labyrinth of tunnels, hideouts and skulls with “I can’t believe this place is just outside of the city.” Then there is the love interest Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower) who, after their first fight, scolds Clary for how quickly she would dismiss their love. At this point they had shared one cheesy smooch.

Ultimately, this is a sloppily plotted and scripted adaptation (homosexual relationships are alluded to then immediately forgotten, a human friend’s eyesight is restored after a vampire bite, but Clary just shrugs it off) with questions raised that are left unanswered (why is Clary more concerned about her friend’s shaky alliance than her missing mother or the demons after her blood? And why doesn’t Godfrey Gao have pants on in his first scene?) But there is a deliberate sense of humour amidst the corkers, with Jace given the majority of the witty lines (besides the one mentioned earlier). Just when you think the script might have some bright moments or spots of clarity, it proves the opposite. Not even director Harald Zwart seems to have a firm handle on any of the madness. Or perhaps he knew what he was doing all along with his tongue firmly in cheek; the humans in this world are, after all, referred to as mundanes.

Red 2 (M)

Directed by: Dean Parisot

Starring: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary Louise Parker, Anthony Hopkins

One star

Review by: Julian Wright

There is nothing more excruciating an experience than a two hour comedy that is not funny. Or an action movie that is not thrilling. Even worse, when one tries to incorporate both and fails dismally. The one-joke premise film Red (adapted from a three-issue comic series) was a breezy action comedy that drew plenty of laughs from its silly and simplistic plot which was built on the concept of old people toting guns. But the idea ran its course. The film was a satisfying, if not particularly memorable, self-contained piece of entertainment. In the grand tradition of going back to the well that spawned anything that made a few bucks at the cinema, the old folks are packing heat again in this lacklustre attempt to secure some more green at the box office. The studio doesn’t even try to conceal the dollar signs that are a permanent fixture in their eyes, putting into production a lazy script (by Red scribes Jon and Erich Hoeber) and churning out a frustratingly dull product.

Retired CIA agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is trying to enjoy a low-key domesticated life with civilian Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) when he is drawn back into international intrigue. The two, along with Frank’s mate and former colleague Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) discover that they have been named as participants in a Cold War nuclear weapon operation and set out to clear their names, with Victoria (Helen Mirren) on their heels under contract to kill them and nutty bomb creator Dr Edward Bailey (Anthony Hopkins) in tow. This tongue in cheek affair wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from Frank’s former flame Katya (Catherine Zeta-Jones) causing tension and setting up relationship insecurities for Sarah.

If only any of this was the slightest bit entertaining. Never before has a sense of comedy and what is considered funny been so wrong. From the clunky opening scenes it is apparent that all involved were not on the same wavelength, (or simply just not interested) with the comedic rhythm completely off. It feels like the delivery of the lines and editing of each scenes try hard to avoid our funny bone. The actors are saying jokes, but none of it is funny. From Willis’ complete nonchalance to Parker’s apparent desperation for laughs as the ditzy one, the majority of the cast had committed to a career low point. Malkovich is the highlight with his energetic goofiness, Mirren adds steely, dead pan class, and Hopkins gets the chance to play and have fun, but his arc comes as no surprise and his overuse of the line “Jolly good” grates. He’s British, we get it. In fact, there are zero surprises here with plot twists that seem to come from a Scriptwriting 101 text-book. The only surprise is how unengaging it all is.

Being low on laughs and lacking in exciting action, the high point of creativity in this film is the clever comic inspired transitions between scenes (used when the characters end up in another city), which is frequent, yet not often enough considering how much of a chore the rest is to sit through. When this is the only recommendation one can make for a movie starring a slew of talent, you know it is best to avoid it, otherwise you might see red.

The Messengers (M)

Directed by: Oxide Pang Chung, Danny Pang

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller

One star

Review by Julian Wright

This haunted house film is destined to live a short life at the cinema. Not only will it be edged off the screens by blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Shrek 3, but it is basically a direct to DVD bore-fest that got lost along the way to the shelves of your local video shop and somehow ended up in multiplexes.

After the Solomon family experience some tough times in Chicago, they decide to turn over a new leaf by buying a run down farm in North Dakota to grow sunflowers. Troubled teenager Jessica (Kristen Stewart) is obviously not too impressed with having to leave all her friends behind and live in a house where her mobile phone doesn’t get a signal, but she soon begins experiencing some supernatural goings-on. Of course no one believes her and so after a nasty attack while home alone with her baby brother, she begins to investigate the history of the house and discovers the past owners didn’t just “up and leave” like the townspeople suspected.

Sometimes it can be fun to settle down in a dark cinema and allow yourself to be manipulated by an old-fashioned haunted house flick, but it is hard to keep an interest in a film that relies so heavily on creaky floorboards to scare an audience like it’s a new filmmaking technique. It is as if the writer and directors went down a list of haunted house movie clichés and decided to cram them all into this dull film. In fact you might have more fun trying to keep count of all the clichés than paying attention to the flimsy plot.

The plot is so thin and familiar that you would think the writers might have jacked up some character development but we don’t even discover the reason for the family’s relocation until way past the halfway mark and by that time you couldn’t possibly care any less. Luckily co-producer Sam Raimi is enjoying such huge success with the Spiderman franchise because if his career was based solely on turkeys like this he would be in big trouble.

As appeared in Examiner Newspapers, 2007.

We’re The Millers (MA)

Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter

Three and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

We’re The Millers is the kind of comedy that really shouldn’t get a passing grade or a positive review. The script is simplistic, crude, predictable, at times stupid and the direction is so pedestrian that anyone could have plopped the camera in position and called “Action.” And yet here we are, three and a half stars awarded and an open confession that I laughed a lot. We’re the Millers proves that an average script can be elevated by a game cast and a few hilarious set pieces. Of course this is not an endorsement for script writers to start slacking off.

Career drug dealer David Clark (Jason Sudeikis) is robbed of all his weed and savings, so to make it up to his supplier Brad (Ed Helms) he agrees to smuggle a “smidge and a half” of marijuana across the Mexico border. Convinced that a single white male travelling to and from Mexico is sure to raise alarm bells, he recruits two neighbours Rose (Jennifer Aniston) and Kenny (Will Poulter) and a runaway Casey (Emma Roberts) to pose as his wholesome family. Rose is a stripper who is being evicted, Casey has nowhere else to go and nerdy Kenny has been left home alone by his parents so he is just up for an adventure. Of course, smuggling drugs is easier said than done and the clashing, bickering four must face multiple hurdles including a swinging couple and an angry drug lord.

Getting past the fact that this film hardly convinces us in those vital set-up scenes that any of these characters would agree to go on this job with David, We’re The Millers is surprisingly tolerable and amusing. Big laughs are few and far between but there are consistent chuckles between them. Gross out humour goes a long way – but it is Poulter’s sincere performance contrast against the more outlandish stuff that gets us through the rough patches. Aniston, who is still finding her feet with roles on the big screen, is once again serviceable but gets the short end of the stick with her underwritten character. Her stripper is so thinly drawn that it is virtually impossible for her to make anything more of it than what she does on-screen. Her first few appearances are so fleeting that she doesn’t even manage to convince as a stripper, until the gratuitous but show stopping strip tease used to get them out of a sticky situation.

While avoiding anything at depth, We’re The Millers does stop (albeit briefly) for moments of warmth – Kenny’s coming of age in particular – but aims squarely for laughs, which it gets. Anything that achieves what it sets out to do can’t be all that bad, can it? Even if our memory of it only lasts mere minutes.

What Maisie Knew (M)

Directed by: Scott McGehee, David Siegel

Starring: Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgard, Onata Aprile

Three and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Anyone who comes from a broken home may find What Maisie Knew cuts a little too close to the bone. At times an unflinching look at the effects of a nasty break up on the innocent child caught in the middle, this film based on Henry James’ novel tackles the issue head on. Alleviated (or let down, depending on your point of view) by bouts of sentimentality, this is a dark but honest exploration of an all too common family dynamic that is scarily relatable and rarely given its due in film as it is here.

Manipulative rock star Susanna (Julianne Moore) and her art dealer husband Beale (Steve Coogan) are going though a divorce that Is far from amicable. The custody battle over their young daughter Maisie (Onata Aprile) is toughest part, with Susanna trying to keep her away form her father out of anger and spite. They share custody, but their busy schedules (her touring and his constant trips to the UK) leave Maisie in difficult spot. Custody days are often forgotten, as is who is supposed to pick her up from school on which days. The two eventually marry other people, Susanna to bar tender Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgard) and Beale to Maisie’s young, attractive nanny Maro (Joanna Vanderham). The situation proves to be difficult for all to deal with and particularly poisonous for Maisie.

Amidst a sea of solid performances stands out the impossibly talented Onata Aprile, who, as Maisie, is in a constant state of woe. She wears a lifetime of pain on her emotionally drained features, a striking achievement for such an inexperienced performer. Her performance is a beacon of light in such a dark situation. We don’ just witness the divorce and custody battle, but experience it with Maisie and Aprile’s performance make it all the more heartbreaking. The weight-of-the-world pain she conveys is reminiscent of Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, but is more impressive due to her age.

At times raw, honest and harrowing, yet at other times awfully “Hollywood” and saccharine in its depictions, What Maisie Knew is an uneven affair. The power of the story is somewhat lessened in the later stages with repetition – this is essentially 100 minutes of Maisie being shafted from one guardian to the next and having to endure emotional battering after emotional battering. Character development also takes a hit when it becomes evident that not only are these people selfish, sometimes heartless and clueless but also incredibly dumb. Not one of her four guardians, who find it impossible to find the time to raise her, thinks to enrol her in day care. At one point she is dropped off at Lincoln’s workplace when he isn’t there. One staff member takes her home with her instead of calling the police. And no one seems to have the brains to call child services. Lapses in character logic aside, What Maisie Knew still carries weight and is an important story that should be seen.

Interior. Leather Bar

Directed by: James Franco, Travis Mathews

Starring: Val Lauren, James Franco, Travis Mathews

Five stars

Review by: Julian Wright

With between three and eight on-screen appearances per year since 2002, James Franco must be one of the hardest working actors of his generation. Or any generation. Dividing his time between the blockbuster Spider Man trilogy, Oscar bait Milk and 127 Hours, Julia Roberts vehicle Eat, Pray, Love, low-key fare The Company and dude comedy Pineapple Express (to name just a fraction) – his filmography looks like the work of a career experiment. Then there was that bizarre stint on TV show General Hospital. His unusual and unpredictable choices have also made him one of the most intriguing actors working today.

Perhaps his most experimental and out-of-left-field project (even more so than his sincere appearance in a soapie) to date is Interior. Leather Bar, which he filmed with his mate Travis Mathews. Passing it off as a personal and experimental project for their own creative fulfillment, Franco and Mathews gather a few mates and amateur actors to recreate the missing 40 minutes of William Friedkin’s Cruising (1980). Hollywood legend has it that the envelope pushing, gay themed film starring Al Pacino was hacked up by the ratings board, that deemed the gay cruise bar footage too racy and so it was excised, never to be seen or screened.

But not only are the adventurous duo going to recreate the scenes, but put their own interpretative spin on it – which leaves many of the cast and crew nervous as to what will be required of them. Straight actor Val Lauren, who takes the Al Pacino role – or at least a version of the Al Pacino role – begins to sweat bullets over what he has gotten himself into. As an actor he knows is it his job and part of his craft to become another person for the story being told – but never before has he been in a position where he might have to draw a line. And what would that mean to draw a line on art?

It doesn’t help, either, that Franco and Mathews don’t really have much of an idea of what will happen when the cameras roll, or at least none that they are willing to share. They want to capture something organic in their little rented studio mocked up to look like a dark, sleazy underground cruise club – which may include actual penetrative sex between men.

But is this an exercise in art or is it simply a pornographic short film? What is art? And is this project only unsettling because it is dealing with homosexuality? These are just a few questions that will be buzzing around your head hours after the swift 60 minutes is over. Franco – often operating the camera during the sex scenes – admits to being taken aback by what he sees, then asks “but why?” Is he really just challenging himself, and everyone else just a pawn in his project? Or is this his way of changing attitudes towards homosexuality in cinema? He makes a point that he is sick of every commercial and film featuring a man and a woman – never two men or two women.

Interior. Leather Bar is less about performance and more about ideas, which it has bursting from its seams. Deliciously layered, bold, daring and thought-provoking, Franco and Mathews’ meta-centric film will, unfortunately, never be accepted into mainstream where it would make the greatest impact. But this tiny in-your-face step towards changing negative attitudes is an admirable and unprecedented achievement. Franco wants to shake things up a bit. Maybe we need to be woken up because watered down versions of homosexuality on-screen like Brokeback Mountain (2005) or Philadelphia (1993) aren’t quite cutting it. Franco may be right. Can’t wait for his next “experiment”.

Interior. Leather Bar screened as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival.

Goblin Plays Suspiria

Suspiria (R)

Directed by: Dario Argento

Starring: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini

Four and a half stars

I remember as a kid waking up with butterflies in my stomach on the days I knew I going to the movies. I was giddy with excitement, having barely slept the night before. Going to the cinema was a special treat and an event, particularly for my most anticipated releases. These intense  feelings rarely revisit as an adult. A trip to the cinema doesn’t feel like a trip to Disneyland anymore. The closest thing has been seeing classics or personal favourites on the big screen that I couldn’t see on initial release.

Heading to Goblin Plays Suspiria, I still didn’t have those feelings. I had tried to watch Suspiria a couple of times but my enjoyment was greatly diminished by the distractingly wretched dubbing. Sure Dario Argento’s film looked pretty, but I could not understand how anyone could get past the audio never syncing with the visual, let alone label it a classic horror film. However, I had an inkling that witnessing Goblin live-score the highly regarded Suspiria at Revelation Perth International Film Festival would be something worth seeing, even if I still couldn’t find merit in this film. I may not have arrived with butterflies, but I left the session with them fluttering in my knotted stomach. The experience made me excited by cinema again like it had when I was 10 years old.

The quintet positioned themselves at their instruments to a round of hearty applause by the enthusiastic audience in an almost packed cinema. A quick question revealed that about half of them were to witness Suspiria for the first time. From the rain drenched opening in which fish out of water American Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) touches down in Munich, Germany to commence classes at a fancy ballet school, Goblin’s signature score sent shivers with its booming, nerve shredding melody.

Argento sustains an almost unbearable level of suspense from the get go as Suzy uncovers creepy goings on within the school, starting with her first night when she witnesses a distressed fellow student fleeing into the woods. The girl is brutally murdered, sparking a mystery as to who did it and why. Later, maggots infest the attic, forcing the students to sleep in the dance hall and Suzy is forced to eat her specially made dinner in her room, away from the others. As Suzy and her equally curious friend Sara (Stefania Casini) try to unravel the clues, someone on campus does their best to make sure the truth remains a secret.

Drenched in bright, bold, psychedelic colours, Suspiria delivers one beautifully haunting and disturbing image after another. The short, occasional bursts of graphic violence are all the more shocking with the vivid red of the blood popping off the screen. Boosting the atmosphere of the piece was Goblin’s score reverberating through the theatre and vibrating through the floor under our feet. It was an utterly immersive experience that could not be captured with even the best state of the art home theatre package. At times the score overwhelmed, drowning out some of the softer spoken dialogue, but it was never intrusive enough to leave the audience baffled as to what was going on.

Once the terror was over, the audience erupted into three successive rounds of applause with many getting to their feet. Goblin had thoroughly thrilled their fans and in the process acquired new ones, including this reviewer. I felt like a kid at Disneyland all over again and was reminded of the thrilling possibilities of cinema. A festival, nay, a cinema going highlight.

Goblin Plays Suspiria was performed as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival.

The Deep (Djupio)

Directed by: Baltasar Kormakur

Starring: Olafur Dari Olaffson, Johann G. Johannsson

Four stars

Review by: Julian Wright

One of the more remarkable “based on a true story” films we have had for a while, The Deep is one man’s journey of survival through some of the harshest terrain who is ultimately left to face the haunting question: “why did I survive?” It is an existential drama/mystery that is refreshing in that it that doesn’t offer any answers presented neatly in a gift wrapped package, taps into universal fears of death and isolation and leaves you with a sense of unease mixed with hope.

In 1984, a fishing boat with a crew of several men is capsized of the coast Iceland. One by one, the men succumb to the below freezing ocean water, except for Gulli (Olafur Dari Olaffson) who i left stranded in the middle of nowhere. Gulli spends hours swimming in no particular direction in hopes of finding land. Against the odds, he finds land, but then must scale the cliff-side and walk through a blizzard bare foot to the nearest village. What follows is Gulli’s, and a selection of intrigued scientist’s, attempts to figure out how or why he survived.

The first half of this survivalist film is characterised by a sombre, downbeat mood – the sense of dread is palatable and Gulli’s fight to live is heart-wrenching. Director Baltasar Kormakur’s gloomy imagery perfectly captures the icy winter temperatures that Gulli survives and adds to the tension. The Deep shifts in tone in the second half with the tension alleviated when Gulli becomes somewhat of a guinea pig for the inquisitive scientists, but to Kormakur’s credit, he is still able maintain a mysterious atmosphere as our hero struggles with the big questions.

This journey for answers that are never found, which is surprisingly never frustrating, is buoyed by Olaffson’s understated performance – Gulli is a man of few words but continues to be an intriguing presence due to Olaffson’s quiet, soulful acting. While he never mutters the words, we can feel his internal wrestle with the “why me?” questions. This stark, icy, but beautifully shot and easy to digest film is sure to haunt and create chills.

 
The Deep screened as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival.

The Earth Wins

Directed by: Jerry Grayson

Three and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

There is no question that the human race takes this planet and its resources for granted. We pillage the land to expand and develop, often with little thought for the harm we are doing or the consequences that may arise in the future. With the environmental movement throughout the decades and recent awareness of climate change, we are slowly changing our attitudes and methods, but whether we care to admit it or not, we are destroying our home.

At times a hypnotic slide show of beauty and other times a stark reminder of how small and insignificant the human race is, The Earth Wins is a thought-provoking 40 minutes about how we treat our world and how it treats us back. Stringing together images that range from animals in the wild to the aftermath of natural disasters that director Jerry Grayson collected from a helicopter over four continents, this short film reminds us to appreciate the Earth but also make us quite aware that we are constantly at Mother Nature’s mercy.

Accompanying the striking imagery are rhetorical questions posed to us – some obvious and familiar, others more thoughtful and pointed. At times it feels like we are being constantly prodded, in which case Grayson could have eased off a bit with the text. However, there are moments in which they are quite effective. The choice of angle is purposefully distancing; instead of getting up close and personal, Grayson takes a step back, which allows us to see from a different perspective.

Exploring the relationship between a home and its inhabitants with the use of perfectly framed and colour-filled shots, The Earth Wins finds the beauty in the stunning and the beauty in the devastating. It will make you think twice next time you drop litter on the ground or when Mother Nature arcs up again with a nasty storm.

The Earth Wins screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival with In Search Of Blind Joe Death on July 13 and 14.

Gimme The Loot

Directed by: Adam Leon

Starring: Ty Hickson, Tashiana Washington

Three and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Gang warfare, coming of age, blossoming romance, comedy, farce, heist. Gimme The Loot is nothing if not packed with flavours, but too many ingredients can sometimes make for a confused dish, particularly if the chef does not quite have the experience to juggle them all evenly. Writer/director Adam Leon’s feature film debut is a relaxed but sweet and funny story about a pair of young New York graffiti artists trying to pull their biggest tagging job, hampered with hiccups.

Malcolm (Ty Hickson) and Sofia (Tashiana Washington), a couple of constantly squabbling best friends, are caught up in a graffiti war with a rival gang. In an attempt to one-up their enemy on their home turf, they devise a plan to scrawl their tags over the Mets’ baseball grounds. Their day-long journey to gather the cash to make it happen is filled with set backs which cause rifts between the two who are always playfully insulting each other but you can sense the affection between them.

Getting off to a shaky start, with the inexperience of the cast sometimes painfully obvious, Gimme The Loot and its lead actors eventually find their rhythm. As the cast appear more comfortable on-screen, the story becomes more enjoyable and engaging. There are some truly special moments in this film, mostly in scenes in which Hickson and Washington are required to walk and talk. Like Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, the chemistry in these simple dialogue driven scenes are a highlight as they riff like Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, only far more charmingly so.

Eventual secure footing aside, though, the film suffers a slight identity crisis, not quite knowing what it wants to be or where it wants to place its focus. The blossoming relationship feels almost like a last-minute inclusion, rarely hinted at until the final moments. Not quite as snappy as it could be, Gimme The Loot still draws you in with its authenticity, genuine heart and undeniable charms.

Gimme The Loot screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 13.