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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 November 2023

There are films which highlight positive aspects of Australia, and there are films which showcase the negative.  The Royal Hotel fits into the later category.  This new film from director Kitty Green (The Assistant) begins with a great opening shot – two women partying hard in a crowded, dimly-lit room.  It’s only when they leave that we realise they’re not in a nightclub but rather, a boat sailing past the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Their expensive lifestyle is about to catch up with them.  Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Henwick) are Canadian backpackers who have now run out of cash and need to find work.  After visiting an employment agency, they find their only option is to accept a short-term gig as bartenders for a hotel in a remote mining town.  Hanna isn’t a fan (she came to Australia to spend time at the beach) but they decide to embrace the experience and do it for few weeks to replenish their empty bank account.

It’s an eye-opening experience from the get-go.  The hotel rooms are filthy, the showers barely function, and when they ask about the availability of internet wi-fi, they’re quickly laughed at.  The paid work is no better.  The hotel owner (Weaving) is a debt-laden drunk and the regular patrons, who have nothing else to do of an evening, are rowdy and aggressive.  The bottom line – it’s not a safe working environment.

With the stage set, The Royal Hotel becomes a character study centered on power games and shifting dynamics.  It’s as if everyone is trying to get a read on everyone else.  The drunks start pushing boundaries and conversely, Hanna and Liv push back.  What can they get away with?  The best character in the film is Carol, the no-bullshit employee who works in the kitchen and has become somewhat of a hotel matriarch.  She’s played by a scene-stealing Ursula Yovich who infuses the character with sass and bravado.

I expected a little more from the finale.  The scenario is realistic but at the same time, it won’t blow you away with unexpected plot points.  Green deserves praise though for creating a credible drama where the uncomfortable vibe felt by the two leads is imparted onto the audience.  Like so many other countries around the world, Australia has issues when it comes to binge drinking and sexual harassment.  As shown The Royal Hotel, the line is crossed too many times for us to accept.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 09 November 2023

There have been 33 films thus far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and The Marvels sets a new record… for being the shortest (it’s just 105 minutes).  This will come as a relief to (1) cinema managers looking to pack in more screenings and more ticket sales, and (2) audience members with limited attention spans who have tired of unnecessarily long action flicks.

Unfortunately, that’s one of the only noteworthy speaking points when speaking of The Marvels.  It’s light on runtime (good) and light on originality (bad).  It’s got folks learning the importance of working as a team, a one-note villain who will stop at nothing to destroy the universe, musical montages as they play with superpowers, wacky science speak which is difficult to understand, heavily-edited action sequences with an abundance of CGI, and Samuel L. Jackson popping up every now again to say something insignificant.

It’s tough to keep using the same formulas and expecting audiences fully buy in.  We’ve got entire planets which are going to be obliterated by the villainous Dar-Benn (Ashton) but background information is slight and so it’s hard to care.  I’ve got no issue with blending tones but the drama isn’t convincing enough to create emotions (like we’ve seen in some Avengers movies), and the comedy isn’t sharp enough to earn laughs.

Pakistani-born newcomer Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel) is the pick of the cast with her extroverted, over-awed personality.  She verbalises every feeling and is infatuated by the idea of working alongside her idol, Captain Marvel (Larson), in saving Earth.  I was less convinced by her loving family members who don’t get much support from the three-person screenwriting team.  One minute they’re intently concerned for their daughter’s welfare and the next minute, they’re cracking lame jokes.  The family in the most recent Marvel flick, Blue Beetle, were more “fleshed out” and had more to offer.

There are dashes of creativity, such as an appropriate song choice which will put money in the pocket of Andrew Lloyd Webber, but The Marvels largely comes across as a forgettable, subplot-establishing bridge to whatever movie is next in the franchise. 

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 15 November 2023

Considering the first movie/book in the franchise was centred on the 74th instalment of the Hunger Games, there’s close to a century of (fictitious) material to draw upon in crafting a prequel.  The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, adapted from author Suzanne Collins’ 2020 novel, takes us back to the 10th Hunger Games – a time when the public’s interest in the barbaric event was flailing and gamemaker Volumnia Gaul (Davis) was low on ideas.

As a quick refresher for those who missed the four earlier movies, the setting is a dystopian world where residences in the wealthy capitol, Panem, live lavishly while those in the 12 poorer districts live miserly.  To help suppress chances of an uprising, the tyrannical leaders in Panem organise an annual, televised spectacle where two unwilling teenagers are picked from each district, and they fight to the death in a craftily designed arena.

I love this film’s core concept.  In the same vein as Revenge of the Sith and Joker, it’s an origin story about a villain.  As the folk who want to upend/destroy society, their backstories in action films are often more intriguing than the screen-hogging heroes.  The central character of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is Coriolanus Snow.  We know he grows up to be Panem’s oppressive ruler (played by Donald Sutherland in the earlier flicks) but here, he’s a smart, kind, popular, fresh-faced 18-year-old high school graduate.  He is played by newcomer Tom Blyth (Billy the Kid) in a likeable performance (even if he does spend a lot of time looking at TV screens).

Clocking in at a sizeable 157 minutes, this outing from director Francis Lawrence (he made the last three movies) is split into three parts – an introduction to the characters, the running of the 10th Hunger Games, and the complex aftermath.  Coriolanus isn’t a competitor but rather, he’s been instructed to mentor a feisty girl chosen from District 12 (Zegler) and help increase her popularity and chances of victory.  Coriolanus isn’t overly keen about the task but there’s an upside – he can impress the Panem bigwigs and earn a prestigious college scholarship referred to as the Plinth Prize.

The film held my attention but there are times, particularly in the third act, where execution can’t match ambition.  We see a subtle transformation in Coriolanus but there isn’t enough time to credibly interrogate the reasons why.  The last 15 minutes is particularly rushed!  This problem could have been avoided if the lengthy Hunger Games scenes in the middle were shortened (they’re not that exciting given we don’t care about most entrants) but, I understand that may have irked those looking for the franchise’s trademark – dark, creative battles.

My thumbs are still up though.  From its detailed costumes and sets to the strength of its leading performances, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is an entertaining prequel which doesn’t come across as a mere cash-grab.  It has an interesting story to tell.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 06 November 2023

Paris Memories sounds gimmicky.  The plot overview on the Internet Movie Database talks about the survivor of a terrorist attack in Paris who, having forgotten most of what happened, retraces her steps a few months later to help trigger memories.  Thankfully, the film is much better than that simplistic pitch and asks viewers to think about intense trauma, its differing impacts, and the many ways to get past it.

As you might expect, the movie opens with the event itself.  To avoid pelting rain outside, Mia (Efira) has ducked into a up-market Parisian restaurant for a quick drink.  She sits alone at a table facing outwards, looks around at the other clientele, and scribbles in a notebook (part of her day job as a Russian translator).  After a quick trip to the bathroom to remove ink marks on her hand, she returns to her table and gunfire blasts through the room.  Her final clear memory from that night is hiding under tables on the floor.

We then slip three months into the future where Mia, one of the few survivors from that night, returns to the restaurant to help recall what took place.  As the audience, it feels like we’re on the same journey of self-discovery.  Mia walks around the restaurant, talks with staff, meets other survivors, and bonds with relatives of those who lost family members.  These interactions elicit fleeting recollections about what she saw during the two hours of the attack.

Paris Memories serves up many interesting layers.  The film explores the “closure” some of us require before moving on.  Félicia (Carax) is a young woman who lost both her parents in the attack and she asks Mia if she saw them that night.  She wants a mental picture of their final minutes together – what they said and what they did.  Thomas (Magimel) is a fellow survivor and while he has a crystal-clear memory of events, he refuses to set foot inside the restaurant.  He wants to move forward and not wallow on the past and what cannot be changed.  There’s also a cook who was working in the kitchen at the time but, because of his status as an illegal immigrant, isn’t listed in any police reports and doesn’t want to be found.

Writer-director Alice Winocour (Proxima) also taps into the subconscious and the way each of us can have different recollections and interpretations of the same event.  This becomes evident when Mia talks with other survivors (one of them is particularly angry) and sees posts in a Facebook chat group.  In the absence of video cameras, a definitive version of the truth will never exist and we’re left to our own minds, which can shift over time.

Perhaps most importantly, the film has something to say about “silver linings” and how even the worse moments of our lives can create something positive.  As Mia pushes through the confusion, pain and trauma, she revaluates her routine existence and the relationship she shares with her long-time partner, Vincent (Colin).  Is it possible to be in a happier place after everything that has taken place?  It’s a question worth asking.

Winning Virginie Efira the best actress prize at the 2023 César Awards (she’s very good), Paris Memories is moving and thought-provoking.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 November 2023

Some filmmakers toil in the fields for decades before making it Hollywood but that hasn’t been the case for London-born Emerald Fennell.  The actor-turned-director won the Oscar for best original screenplay for her first feature film, Promising Young Woman, in early 2021.  While I wasn’t its biggest fan (was iffy on the script), you could see Fennell’s talent behind the camera.  She had created an intriguing character (Carey Mulligan in an Oscar nominated role) and loaded the movie with interesting, provocative ideas.

Saltburn is her sophomore outing and, knowing I’m in the minority for saying this, is a better film.  It’s a wild, colourful, surprising, head-spinning ride filled with hilarious, self-absorbed characters.  You’ll be studying them from the outset and trying to work out if they’re complete morons or cunning psychopaths.  None of them are particularly likeable (part of the film’s alure) so it bucks the trend of a traditional narrative with heroes and villains.

The quick-moving storyline revolves around Oliver (Keoghan), a first-year student at Oxford University who is ridiculously intelligent when it comes to academia… and ridiculously inept when it comes to meeting people.  He wants to be part of the “cool crowd” but they want nothing to do with him.  Rightly or wrongly, they perceive Oliver as an awkward nerd with poor dress sense and an empty wallet.

Oliver’s social status improves dramatically when he helps the super-popular, super-attractive, super-wealthy Felix (Elordi) out of an annoying situation (his bicycle broke while riding to class).  It’s not long before he’s regularly hanging out with Felix and his friends – from drinking in bars, to chatting in dorm rooms.  The pièce de resistance arrives when a sympathetic Felix invites a grieving Oliver (his father just died) to stay with him for the summer at the family’s enormous mansion, known as Saltburn.  The introductory tour provided by Felix is a funny highlight.

The crux of the film is spent at Saltburn where Oliver interacts with Felix’s mum (Pike), dad (Grant), sister (Oliver), cousin (Madekwe), and long-time butler (Rhys).  I won’t reveal too much but there are some outlandish moments (e.g. a draining bathtub) that will generate a reaction from even the most nonchalant audiences.  It’s power games aplenty as characters use their smarts and sexual appetites to try to get the upper hand over others.

One might argue there’s not much in the way of broader story… but that’s not what Saltburn is about.  It’s a film to be savoured for its memorable individual scenes and its off-the-wall conversations.  Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin) is terrific, Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) is comically good, and Archie Madekwe (Gran Turismo) uses his stand-out voice to great effect.  It’s also a career best outing for Australian Jacob Elordi (Euphoria) who finally gets a juicy role to work with.

Featuring distinctive cinematography and inspired song choices, Saltburn rattles and entertains.