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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 25 July 2012

One of the success stories of the year at the Australian box-office was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  It spent 14 weeks inside the top 20 and finished with a total take exceeding $21m.  You only see that kind of longevity from a film if it has very strong word of mouth.  The last movie to spend that much time in Aussie cinemas was Red Dog – released back in August 2011.

So it seems that everyone loved The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Well, everyone except me.  I struggled with the stereotypical characters and the way everything wrapped up so neatly at the end.  It felt like I was being smothered with happiness!  I prefer my feel-good moments in smaller doses.

Before you start doubting my credibility as a critic (as I do each day), allow me the chance to defend myself.  I only need to present one exhibit – the French film And If We All Lived Together.  It covers similar themes but does so in a more credible manner.

The story centres on 5 elderly people from 3 different households.  They realised that they’ve reached their “twilight” years but they’re struggling to work out how they will cope moving forward.  Albert (Richard) is showing the early signs of dementia.  Jeanne (Fonda) is battling cancer and has refused further treatment.  Claude (Rich) is worried about fulfilling his sex drive.  Annie (Chaplin) wishes her children and grandchildren would visit more often.  Jean (Bedos) has time on his hands but doesn’t know what to do with it.

When some are faced with the prospect of moving into an aged care facility, these 5 friends come up with different idea.  The title gives it away - they decide to move in together.  They can share the responsibilities of cooking and maintaining the house whilst also being there for each other and providing good conversation.

They are joined by a young college student, Dirk (Brühl), who wishes to monitor their activities as part of an ethnology thesis.  He is curious about whether their idea of living together may become an increasing trend, especially given France’s aging population.

This could have been a deep, depressing film but director Stéphane Robelin has kept things light… and it works.  Yes, there’s a dramatic undercurrent (some don’t have long to live) but there are plenty of light-hearted moments that push the film in a comedic direction.  Many of these revolve around the characters discussing their sex lives, both now and in the past, and are likely to leave you smiling.

You’ll grow to like the cast quite quickly and there’s one actor who adds a little star power – Jane Fonda.  The Academy Award winner (Klute) can speak fluent French but this is the first time she’s appeared in a French film since 1972.  She’s only made 4 movies over the past 20 years and it’s nice to see her on screen again.

I don’t think too much of the title (surely they could have come up with something more interesting) but if you’re keen on avoiding the plethora of Hollywood blockbusters that are currently screening, And If We All Lived Together should be just the ticket.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 11 July 2012

Jonah (Kwanten) is a twenty-something-year-old guy with a relaxed, happy-go-lucky lifestyle.  He lives with two of his best friends, Gus (Corr) and Stevie (Snook), in a nice house in Sydney’s inner-west.

Instead of finding themselves a normal job, these three have come up with a more unorthodox way of paying the bills.  On weekends, they turn their house into “party central”.  They collect a cover charge at the front door and then let everyone socialise until the wee hours of the morning.  There’s alcohol, there’s a DJ and it’s plenty of fun.

I acknowledge this is, for the most part, a comedy but it’s hard to buy such an implausible situation.  How do they continually host loud parties that involve people drinking on the sidewalk?  Wouldn’t a sleep-deprived neighbour be on the phone to the police?

Moving on… and Jonah’s life takes an unexpected twist when he learns that he has testicular cancer.  The doctor breaks it to him gently in that’s one of the best forms of cancer to get.  The surgeon can simply remove the testicle and after a few weeks of chemotherapy (which doesn’t involve him losing his hair), everything should be fine.  There’s little risk of it spreading elsewhere.

There’s a catch however.  After the chemotherapy, Jonah will become infertile.  He’ll have no chance of fathering a child of his own.  In case you’re wondering why he doesn’t make a “deposit” at the local sperm bank – it’s an option that’s eliminated early in the film.  He gives it a try but it seems his sperm isn’t powerful enough to survive the freezing process.

It leaves Jonah at a strange crossroad in his life.  Instead of accepting reality or opening his mind to the idea of adoption down the track, he is convinced that he must father a child before it’s too late.  He winds up on a bizarre quest of tracking down ex-girlfriends and talking to “friends of friends” to find someone who can carry his child.

Not Suitable For Children has its fair share of genuine laughs but it’s the overall story that holds it back.  The writers have tried too hard to fit these likeable characters into this strange, drawn-out premise.  Jonah’s sudden transformation from a party-loving playboy to a sensitive wanna-be dad is tough to believe.  Further, there are revelations in the film’s final act that left me thinking “well, why didn’t they think of that earlier?”  The idea of a comedy revolving around the “having kids before it is too late” argument was better handled in last month’s Friends With Kids.

There is a reason to see this movie however and her name is Sarah Snook.  The lure of Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, Red Hill) will help get people into cinemas but it’s the performance of Snook that you’ll remember as you leave the theatre.  She plays a strong, opinionated woman with a wonderfully sarcastic sense of humour.  Snook steals the film, particularly in the later stages, and shares some terrific one-on-one conversations with Kwanten.  I will follow her future endeavours with great interest.

Selected to open the 2012 Sydney Film Festival, Not Suitable For Children now finds itself in cinemas across Australia and in a “David versus Goliath” battle against Hollywood’s big summer blockbusters – The Amazing Spider-Man, Ted, Snow White & The Huntsman and Brave.  As a supporter of the local film industry, I hope it isn’t left flattened on the canvas after the first round.  It deserves better than that.

You can read my interview with star Sarah Snook by clicking here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 21 July 2012

You only have to look at a movie poster for Magic Mike to see how this film will lure people into cinemas.  It features five good looking, half-naked men who are stripping on a stage and showing off their well-defined bodies.  One of those guys is Channing Tatum – a highly marketable commodity in Hollywood.  Women think he’s hot (physically).  Studio executives think he’s hot (metaphorically).

Tatum has already appeared in two movies in 2012 (21 Jump Street and The Vow) and both made more than $100m at the U.S. box-office.  Further, the release of the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation has been pushed back by 9 months so that they can include more scenes with Tatum (who originally only had a small role).  It seems he can do no wrong!

Directed by the versatile Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven), Magic Mike is a tale of two halves.  The first hour feels like stripping, stripping and more stripping.  It takes place in a small club where ladies pay a cover charge and then throw more cash up on stage while they scream and salivate over the “entertainment”.

Dallas (McConaughey) runs the show and takes most of the profit but the star attraction is Magic Mike (Tatum).  He knows all the moves and women keep returning week after week to see him perform.  There are others in the troop but there’s not enough time to "flesh out" their characters in much detail.  This is a tale that revolves around Mike.

Well, that’s not entirely correct.  The story also spends time focusing a young guy named Adam (Pettyfer).  After bumping into Mike on the street, he his brought into the strip club and asked to help out with a few things backstage.  Suffice to say that it provides him with an eye-opening introduction to the world of a male stripper.

When a regular member of the company is unable to perform, Dallas gets desperate and decides to throw the reluctant Adam up on stage.  He puts on the worst display of stripping ever witnessed but the women love him anyway!  They scramble over each other in a mad dash to stuff $5 bills into his boxer shorts, clearly attracted by his shy personality and youthful good looks.  The kid is an instant hit.

The film enters a more serious, dramatic phase in the second hour.  Adam starts dabbling in drugs and it creates conflict between himself and Mike.  Not helping the situation is the fact that Mike has a “soft spot” for Adam’s sister, Brooke (Horn).

There’s also tension between Mike and Dallas.  Mike knows he’s in his thirties and that he can’t continue to be a stripper forever.  He’s looking to move into other entrepreneurial activities (such as his own home-made furniture business) but doesn’t have the financial capital to get started.  He’s after an equity share in the strip club – something that the self-driven Dallas is keen to avoid.

Magic Mike has received some extremely positive endorsements.  Through Twitter, acclaimed author Bret Easton Ellis called it the best U.S. film of the year.  I’m struggling to see where he’s coming from.

After its overly drawn out introduction (featuring far too much stripping), the movie rushes in its final stages.  Adam’s downfall isn’t covered in sufficient detail and nor are Mike’s plans for the future.  I also wasn’t convinced of the romance between Mike and Brooke.  They share a couple of nice scenes but I struggled to reconcile a few of their actions (without giving anything away).

Soderbergh has tried to bring an element of style to the film (evidenced by the final scene) but unfortunately, most of it feels cheesy and commercial.  The way in which Adam finds himself stripping on stage for the first time is a good example.  Given the subject matter, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons with Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece Boogie Nights – a film that offered a better insight into its industry and had many more interesting characters.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 09 July 2012

As a film director, the process of making a movie is seldom easy.  You have to convince a studio or investor to put in the money.  You have to enlist a crew who share in your creative vision.  You have to find a cast of great actors who are available when you need them.  You have to deliver your finished film on time and within budget.  It’s takes a lot of skill… but you also need a little luck.

Everything came together for director Kenneth Lonergan back in 2000.  His first feature film, You Can Count On Me, received much praise.  It made my top 10 list in 2001 and was a heartfelt story about the bond between a brother and sister.  It earned Laura Linney an Academy Award nomination for best actress with Lonergan picking up a nomination of his own for best original screenplay.  Not bad for your first movie!

In complete contrast, Lonergan’s follow up effort has been a debacle.  Margaret was shot in New York City back in 2005 and its troubles began in the editing room.  As per the conditions of his contract, Lonergan had full control over the film but with one key clause – it had to clock in at less than 150 minutes.  It was something he could not achieve and this led to disputes with the studio and the producer.

With his funding cut off, Lonergan borrowed money from friend Matthew Broderick (who appears in the film) to try to finish a 150 minute version that he approved of.  He wasn’t the only one trying to save the film though.  Unhappy with Lonergan, producer Gary Gilbert brought in his own editor (Dylan Tichenor from Brokeback Mountain) to craft a two-hour cut.  There was even a third version of the film being pulled together, free of charge, by the legendary Martin Scorsese (Hugo, The Departed).

After years of litigation, Lonergan’s 150 minute cut of the film was slipped into 14 cinemas across the United States in late September 2011.  It screened for 4 weeks, received next-to-no marketing and made a pitiful $43,000 at the box-office.  It was a sad end to a movie that had so much potential.

I’ll say this though – it’s fantastic to see Margaret getting a small release in Australian cinemas.  Yes, this is the “abbreviated” 150 minute version but it’s well and truly worth a look.  The story begins with 17-year-old Lisa (Paquin) roaming the streets of New York City and trying to buy a cowboy hat.  When she spots one being worn by a bus driver (Ruffalo), she tries to get his attention and ask where he purchased it.  Distracted, the driver runs a red light and kills a pedestrian.

Lisa initially lies to the investigating police officer and tells him that the light was green and this was just an unfortunately accident.  She feels compelled to protect herself and the bus driver.  Struggling to cope with the guilt, Lisa decides to fess up.  She naively believes the truth will set her free.  That is not the case.  The police have already closed their file and are reluctant to re-open the investigation based solely on the testimony of a witness who has changed her statement.  It marks the start of Lisa’s passionate crusade to clear her conscience, for better for worse, and see justice prevail.

The actors all look a little younger than we’re used to (given it was filmed 7 years ago) but Margaret is an absorbing character study headlined by a wonderful performance from Anna Paquin (The Piano).  We can see that Lisa is trying to do the right thing but she keeps making mistakes due to her immaturity and stubbornness.  Should we be sympathetic because of her age and the gravity of the situation?  It’s a question that I’m still grappling with.

Whilst it held my attention all the way through, I can see why Lonergan fought hard against his producer.  This two-and-a-half hour version feels fragmented.  You’ll be lured into a conversation only for the film to cut away abruptly and move to the next scene.  Things feel particularly rushed in the final third.

The DVD for the Margaret is being released in the United States this week and includes both this original cut and an “extended” cut that may help fill in some of the gaps.  You therefore have two options – check it out in cinemas or order it online.  Either way, I think you’ll be surprised about how good it is.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 18 July 2012

The Dark Knight Rises comes with an almost unprecedented level of hype and expectation. The last film in the series grossed more than $1 billion at the international box-office and won an Oscar for the late Heath Ledger. Further solidifying his reputation as one of Hollywood’s best’s directors, Christopher Nolan followed up with the equally successful Inception – the best movie of the last three years (in my eyes anyway).

This final instalment in Nolan’s trilogy picks up the story exactly eight years after the conclusion of The Dark Knight. A small get-together is being held to honour the memory of district attorney Harvey Dent. Dent is remembered fondly by the citizens of Gotham City for the way in which he ruthlessly prosecuted the “bad guys” and kept them off the streets.

Only Bruce Wayne aka Batman (Bale) and Police Commissioner Gordon (Oldman) know the truth. Harvey Dent wasn’t a martyr. After being badly disfigured in an explosion, Dent had gone on a murderous rampage before Batman was finally able to stop him.

It was Batman who took the fall though. He realised that if the public knew the truth about Dent, it would destroy their faith in the officials and police officers who help maintain law and order. Batman sacrificed his reputation and is now seen as a villain – the man who killed the heroic Harvey Dent.

Depressed by the whole experience, Bruce Wayne hung up his Batman costume and has now lives the life of a recluse. He hobbles around his mansion using a cane, takes little interest in his multi-billion dollar company and no longer makes any public appearances. Not even his loyal butler (Caine) can convince Bruce to put the past behind him and start a new life.

Ah, but as the saying goes – every hero need a villain. It takes the arrival of a new evil mastermind to lure Batman back into the spotlight. A terrorist by the name of Bane (Hardy) has recruited a small army (not sure how) and has crafted a ridiculously intricate plan (not sure why) to destroy Gotham City. He is being assisted by the alluring Selina Kyle (Hathaway), a seductive cat burglar who can seemingly get her hands on anything.

It has received glowing reviews thus far but I was only mildly impressed with The Dark Knight Rises. One of the strengths of the earlier films was the way in which they explored the fine line between good and evil and the difficult choices we sometimes must make. I’ll never forget the prophetic line uttered by Harvey Dent – “you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”.

These thought-provoking concepts haven’t come through as strongly in The Dark Knight Rises. In terms of the villain, Bane’s motivation is to “liberate” the residents of Gotham City from the shackles of its overbearing government and police force. It’s an interesting concept (with relevance in today’s society) but it isn’t explored in much detail. We never really understand why so many are motivated to stand behind him.

It left me with the disappointing realisation that this story is too “black and white”. The closest we get to something more substantial is a heartfelt exchange between Christian Bale and Michael Caine midway through the film. It’s a shame there wasn’t more of this.

Instead, we’re left with action-packed scenarios, filled with plot holes, where people always seems to be the right place at the right time. This significant weakness gives the film an over-the-top “cartoonish” feel and detracts from what could have been a hugely suspenseful finale to the trilogy.

To its credit, the film offers a few nice surprises. Some of the twists create a connection with characters in past Batman films. Others leave the door open to future franchises. It’s also great to see the introduction of new, intriguing characters. The feisty Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) is a breath of fresh air as Selina Kyle. The likeable Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days Of Summer) makes an impression as a budding police officer (although he should probably be a clairvoyant).

As one of the best action directors in the business, Christopher Nolan has again created a series of fast-paced action sequences that will get the blood pumping. Despite the limitations within the screenplay, this film is still exciting to watch! Nolan pulls you into this fictitious world and you won’t even notice the visual effects – it all feels so real. The thunderous sound effects (it felt like my seat was vibrating at times) and bold film score from Hans Zimmer further add to the experience.

The Dark Knight Rises has a convoluted plot and struggles to justify its key themes but it’s still worth a look as an epic action flick. I’d be careful not to set your expectations too high.