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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 26 October 2018

In 2008, two members from the same family published a book.  Journalist David Sheff wrote a non-fiction account of his efforts to connect with his drug-addicted son and how it affected their relationship.  It made such an impact that David was named one of Time Magazine’s “Top 100 Most Influential People” in 2009.  His son, Nic, also penned a memoir that looked at events from his perspective.  It provides insight into his mindset of a drug user and the difficulties of beating the addiction.

Both books are credited as being the source material for Beautiful Boy but it’s clear the focus of the movie is on the father (played by Steve Carell) as opposed to the son (played by Timothée Chalamet).  The film occasionally picks up Nic’s timeline but for the most part, we see the world through the eyes of the forlorn, helpless David who seeks answers to unanswerable questions.

The narrative is spread over a number of years but David first realises his son is a habitual drug user when 18 years of age.  Nic is a budding writer who has been offered a place in 6 different colleges but all of that unravels because of addiction to crystal meth (amongst other things).  Nic is somewhat reluctant but David convinces him to spend 28 days in a rehabilitation centre which offers a dubiously wide success rate of between 25% and 80%.

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for David as he struggles with how to respond.  There’s self-doubt as he wonders whether he could have raised his son differently to produce a better outcome.  There’s hope after he sees Nic make substantial progress and naively think his addiction has been cured.  There’s worry after Nic relapses and goes missing for lengthy periods of time.  There’s even an element of acceptance as David comes to grips with the reality that perhaps he will never be able to help.

It’s an important subject matter but the fast-paced nature of the screenplay doesn’t allow the emotional impact to sink through.  There are many flashbacks as the film slips back-and-forth between Nic as an adult and Nic as a child.  It’s designed to show the contrast in his actions and personality but the technique is used so many times that it becomes a distraction.  There were even a couple of moments where I was unsure of the timeline.

This could have been a more powerful film if the emphasis was placed on just a handful of days in David’s and Nic’s respective journeys.  The decision to include events over several years gives it a fragmented feel.  We skip quickly between events and we don’t get an appreciation of what happened in the middle to fully understand each character.  I wasn’t sure about a few of the song choices either and the way they fit with the material.

All of that said, Beautiful Boy deserves praise for the performances of its two leading men.  Steve Carell began his career in comedy but his performances in films such as Foxcatcher, The Big Short and Last Flag Flying highlight his ability to easily change genres.  There are lengthy dialogue-free sequences where Carell’s body language is left to do the talking.  Timothée Chalamet rocketed to stardom with his Oscar-nominated performance in Call Me by Your Name and he proves that he’s anything but a “one hit wonder” as the confused, fidgety Nic. 

Co-written by Australian Luke Davies (Lion) and directed by Belgian Felix Van Groeningen (The Brocket Circle Breakdown), Beautiful Boy has lofty goals but is a touch disappointing.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 10 October 2018

There are plenty of recognisable names on the film’s poster but the real star of Bad Times at the El Royale is the hotel itself.  Inspired by an actual hotel that once existed, the El Royale straddles the border between California and Nevada.  Each guest is given a choice – they can enjoy the “warmth and sunshine” of a room located in California or the “hope and opportunity” that comes with a room on the Nevada side.

It was once “Tahoe’s best kept secret” but the El Royale has fallen on hard times following the loss of its gaming licence.  With next-to-no guests, they have just a single employee, Miles (Pullman), who collects the money at the front desk and cleans the rooms when he has time.  He’s not particularly motivated as evidenced in the film’s introduction.

With the hotel completely empty, Miles is surprised by the arrival of a string of unrelated guests.  Jeff Bridges is a priest from Indiana on official business.  Cynthia Erivo is a struggling singer on her way to an unpaid job.  Jon Hamm is a busy appliance salesman who loves a chat.  Dakota Johnson is a young woman looking to keep a low profile.

Written and directed by Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods), Bad Times at the El Royale is the kind of movie where the less you know going in, the better.  It’s an entertaining thriller where it’s clear that every character is hiding something and it’s up to the audiences to put the pieces together.  The performances are top-notch and there are some great one-on-one conversations.

Goddard has structured the film in a way that creates maximum intrigue.  It’s split into chapters where the focus is on a different person.  Just when you think you’ve got your head around a particular character, the film is quick to throw in an unexpected twist and change perspective.  A great example is the first major transition between the Jon Hamm and Cynthia Erivo narratives.  The fluid timeline will also keep viewers on their toes as the film slips back-and-forth between different periods of the day.

My only minor quibble was the arrival of Chris Hemsworth who, showing off his perfect abs at any opportunity, has a key part to play during the final act.  I could understand the motives of everyone in this ensemble but the Hemsworth character, without giving too much away, is too much of a goof.  The film wants to portray him as a tough, cunning individual but his poorly thought out plans don’t fit with that image.

The 140-minute running time might sound off-putting to some but Bad Times at the El Royale is fun stuff.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 24 October 2018

There’s no shortage of long-running film franchises but one which ranks highly (in terms of output) is Halloween.  The original was one of the highest-grossing films of 1978 and was followed by 9 sequels between 1981 and 2009.  There was a problem though.  Given there have been 7 directors and 16 credited writers, the series has struggled when it comes to continuity.  If you watched all the movies back-to-back, many plot developments wouldn’t make sense.

For that reason, the screenwriting team behind this new Halloween flick have pressed the “reset” button and gone back to the beginning.  It’s a little odd given they share the same title but Halloween (2018) is intended to be a direct sequel to Halloween (1978).  You can forget about the other movies and ignore the fact that Jamie Lee Curtis’ character has died twice previously!

To provide some quick background information for newcomers, the original Halloween was about a mute, mask-wearing serial killer named Michael Meyers who escaped from a sanatorium and brutally killed a bunch of people in a small American town on Halloween night.  This sequel picks things up 40 years later and we learn from the pre-credits sequence that Meyers has spent all of that time in a maximum security prison.  More than 50 psychiatrists have tried to diagnose Meyers but the general consensus is that he’s “pure evil”.

A plot twist is required to accelerate the drama and it arrives when a prison bus, escorting Meyers to a new facility on the night before Halloween (not exactly a great idea), unexplainably crashes into a ditch on the side of the road in the middle of the night.  Meyers escapes and the bloody mayhem is about to begin again.  As you’d expect given the genre, don’t get too attached to the characters as many will not survive.

Halloween (1978) was the first on-screen role for a then 19-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis and, after a lengthy and successful career, it’s nice to see her reprising the role of Laurie Strode.  Laurie was a naïve babysitter in 1978 but we now we see her as a very different person – a paranoid grandmother who lives in constant fear of Meyers’ return.  She’s created secret hiding spots in her well-fenced home and her front door has at least three locks.  Some see her crazy but her 40 years of preparation have value during the film’s big climax.

Characters are always going to make dumb decisions in horror movies to help prolong the story but those in Halloween lack credibility.  Audiences at my packed preview screening were laughing at the stupidity of some scenes and the incompetence of local police officers.  I won’t spoil too much but as an example, I don’t know why Laurie doesn’t reveal her strong suspicions about Meyers’ return when she breaks into the house of her daughter (Greer) to complain about her lax security.

Despite the not-so-perfect screenplay, Halloween still delivers as a cinematic experience.  It pays homage to its predecessor through its unsettling opening titles and the unforgettable film score created by John Carpenter.  It’s also not afraid to be gruesome and gory.  There are a few sequences that will catch audiences off guard as Meyers makes his move on unsuspecting prey.

Director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) is a newcomer to the genre but he’s clearly done his homework.  He makes great use of light and camera angles to heighten tension at just the right moments.  Considering the movie just had the second biggest box-office opening for an R-rated horror film in the United States (it made $76 million in 3 days), you’d like to hope that Green will be involved for more instalments to come.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 07 October 2018

Spoiler alert!  This film ends with Neil Armstrong making a “giant leap of mankind” and becoming the first man to step foot on the surface of the moon.  I make that comment sarcastically because it’s one of the most widely known events in human history (well, unless you’re a conspiracy theorist).  The take away from First Man is therefore not a bleedingly obvious history lesson but rather, insight into who Armstrong was as a person and the decade of hard work that led to the famed Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

Oscar-winning screenwriter Josh Singer (Spotlight) faced an unenviable task in encapsulating Armstrong’s story inside of two hours.  Given he couldn’t speak to the subject himself (Armstrong passed away in 2012), he interviewed family members, advisers and former astronauts.  The most important source material came from writer James R. Hansen who spent more than 50 hours interviewing Armstrong before publishing his official biography in 2005.

Perhaps the most surprising detail we learn about Armstrong is that he while he was extremely driven in terms of career, he was a quiet, reserved individual.  I don’t think there’s a single scene in the movie where we see him raise his voice or express profound emotion.  When spoken to by the hungry media at a pre-launch press conference, you’d think Armstrong was simply on a mission to walk across the street such was his level of enthusiasm.  Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine, The Big Short) delivers a restrained but powerful performance that captures these personality traits.

The focus is Armstrong but there’s still plenty to be learned about other characters in this big ensemble.  Claire Foy gives a heartfelt performance as Armstrong’s wife, Janet.  She’s supportive of her husband’s career but at the same time, she’s worried about the experimental, high-risk nature of the space program.  Corey Stoll is also great as Buzz Aldrin, Armstrong’s co-pilot on the Apollo 11 mission, and the film doesn’t shy away from their frosty, fractured relationship.

There’s a broader perspective too.  The film delves into the public’s opinion of the American space program and how it wasn’t universally appreciated.  There were protests (including chants of “Whitey’s on the moon”) by those who felt it was a significant waste of taxpayer money.  We also get to see what went on behind the scenes at NASA in terms of training and preparation.  As an example, there’s an eyebrow raising moment where a NASA director drafts a press release to be used if the astronauts don’t return safely.

33-year-old Damien Chazelle will add to his power in Hollywood with another outstanding directorial effort.  His last two movies were both nominated at the Academy Awards for best picture (Whiplash, La La Land) and First Man is odds-on to continue that impressive streak.  It’s beautifully shot.  The use of handheld cameras by cinematographer Linus Sandgren creates an enaging, documentary-like feel.

The film’s momentum is a touch sluggish during the middle stages but the emotion ramps up during the final act as Chazelle dispenses with all other perspectives and shows the entirety of the Apollo 11 flight from only Armstrong’s viewpoint.  There are no shots of his anxious wife or the busy mission control team.  It’s as if we’re in space and watching events unfold against the backdrop of a grand, memorable film score from composer Justin Hurwitz.

It’s “go for launch” in terms of this year’s Oscar season and First Man will be spoken about frequently over the coming months.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 14 October 2018

A remake of a 1937 film starring a woman with limited acting experience and a director who has never made a movie before?  Nope, I’m not talking about a 5-minute short film from a first-year college student.  This is the latest big-budget release from Warner Bros. Pictures.  Of course, I’m being mischievous with that simple overview and there are many reasons why this terrific project, which has started well at the U.S. box-office, is in line for multiple Oscar nominations.

A Star is Born is a proven story with audience appeal.  You’d think it was written by William Shakespeare given the desire by studios to retell it again and again.  The 1937 original starred Janet Gaynor and Fredric March and that was followed by the 1954 remake with Judy Garland and James Mason and then the troubled 1976 version with Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.  Bollywood even gave it a crack in 2013 with an Indian adaptation starring Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor.

Bradley Cooper, in addition to his lead performance, pulls on the reins as the film’s director and while this marks his debut, he’s hardly an unknown quantity.  He’s a three-time Academy Award nominated actor who has worked under the guidance of directors including Clint Eastwood, David O. Russell, Cameron Crowe and Susanne Bier.  He’s also familiar with the subject matter.  Cooper has previously discussed his addiction to drugs and painkillers during his 20s and how it almost destroyed his promising career.

The casting of a renowned pop star as co-lead may sound like a “cash grab” to lure her millions of music fans but again, you can push those cynical thoughts to the side once you’ve seen her outstanding performance.  Lady Gaga has created a delicate, likeable character who serves as the film’s emotional barometer in that as her feelings change, so too will those of the audience.  Her work also goes far beyond what’s seen on screen as she co-wrote most of the original songs.  It’s her film as much as it is Cooper’s.

In terms of the narrative, Cooper steps into the shoes of Jackson Maine.  In the opening scene of the movie, we see him do two things – sing in front of thousands of adoring fans at a concert and then drink hard liquor in the back of a limousine.  That pretty much sums him up.  He’s a successful singer-songwriter but his love for alcohol threatens to permanently derail his career and destroy his relationship with friends and colleagues.  It’s a story that’s been seen countless times in real life within the music industry.

It’s through a chance encounter in a bar that Jackson meets Ally (Gaga), a struggling singer who is yet to catch her “big break” and who lacks the courage to perform her own songs.  I’m not sure which carries more weight but it’s clear that he is attracted to both her beauty and her talent.  He also enjoys her frank nature and the way in which she doesn’t fawn over his celebrity status.  Within a matter of days, the pair have become inseparable with Jackson dragging Ally up on stage to introduce her to the world and showcase her amazing voice.

The first half of A Star is Born is jaw-droppingly good as we watch Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga interact and write songs together (highlighted by a scene outside a convenience store).  It’s not a musical but the song lyrics still serve a valuable purpose as they allow the characters to express their feelings.  The second half isn’t quite as strong.  Ally has valid problems of her own (e.g. a manager trying to change her style) but these are pushed into the background as the film focuses more on Jackson and his increasing issues with alcohol.

Great performances mixed with great music.  A Star is Born is a must-see!