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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 February 2016

There’s a moment in Hail, Caesar! where a kidnapped George Clooney is lying unconscious on a lawn chair in a dimly lit room.  He is awoken by the sound of a vacuum cleaner continually banging up against the door.  He gets to his feet, opens the door, and finds a housekeeper going about her duties.  She has no idea what’s going on and doesn’t really care.  She just points him in the direction of the kidnappers who are having a few drinks down the hallway.

This simple scene left me a wide smile on my face.  If you’re going to kidnap someone and bring them to your house, it’s probably best to plan ahead and give the cleaner the day off.  Some will find this joke silly and stupid.  Others, myself included, will find it hilarious.  It’s this dry, off-beat sense of humour that I love about the Coen Brothers.  They’re on a par with Paul Thomas Anderson as my favourite filmmakers working today.

Despite my admiration for their talents, I’ll happily admit that Hail, Caesar! isn’t one of their very best.  There are more than enough laughs but the premise lacks the entertaining complexity that we saw in Intolerable Cruelty and Burn After Reading.  Set in 1951, it all revolves around Eddie Mannix (Brolin), the head of a Hollywood movie studio.  He’s working long hours to keep the studio’s many films on track and on budget.

Things go haywire when one of their big stars, Baird Whitlock (Clooney), is kidnapped.  It shuts down production on his big Roman epic and two nosy journalists (both played by Tilda Swinton) are fishing for details to publish in their gossip columns.

While trying to pull together $100,000 in ransom money, Eddie still has to go about his day job and deal with other issues.  An acclaimed director (Fiennes) is frustrated by a leading actor (Ehrenreich) who can barely string a sentence together.  A high-profile actress (Johansson) has become pregnant while playing a mermaid in a synchronised swimming flick.  An aerospace company is trying to convince him to leave the studio and become their new CEO.

There’s not a lot of overlap to the stories and they have a “skit” type feel.  Trailers and television advertisements boast about the great cast (deservedly so) but most of them are limited to a handful of scenes.  Some don’t even require a wardrobe change.  That said, Josh Brolin is fantastic in the lead role.  His suave, calculating personality is best illustrated during an amusing scene where he explains his new biblical movie to a group of religious leaders.

Were the Coen Brothers intending this to be a goofy throwback to the 1950s or are there deeper undertones in the same vein as their last effort, Inside Llewyn Davis?  I’m still not sure.  Fans of these iconic filmmakers should enjoy the ride.  Those unfamiliar with their previous work may find it all a bit too strange.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 10 February 2016

What do I look for in a good movie?  My usual answer is creativity and originality.  As a fan of superhero flicks, I’m the first to admit they’ve been feeling a little tired over the past few years.  They’ve been following the same formulas and have been drumming over the same themes (“absolute power corrupts absolutely”).

The timing is perfect because Deadpool has come along like a breath of fresh air.  It’s unlike anything we’ve seen from the Marvel franchise before.  Ryan Reynolds stars as Wade Wilson – an intimidating mercenary for hire.  His talents are illustrated in an early scene where he is hired by a young woman to stop a bothersome stalker.

Wade expects to live and long and fruitful life but that changes after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Out of desperation, he undergoes a radical mutation therapy that has unintended side effects.  On the positive side, the cancer is gone and he has super-healing powers.  He is almost impossible to kill and has taken on the new name of Deadpool.  On the negative side, his face is badly disfigured.  He now wears a mask and has distanced himself from his loving girlfriend, Vanessa (Baccarin).

He’s a terrific fighter but above all else, Deadpool has mastered the insult.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re his friend or his enemy.  He’s going to be sending a few barbs your way.  It’s rude, it’s crude, and it’s politically incorrect.  I said the same about the awful Dirty Grandpa but this film is exceedingly better because the story is better and the wit is sharper.  Writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese deserve praise for creating such an amusing script.  The unorthodox opening titles tell you from the outset that this film is different.  Oh, and wait until you see the Stan Lee cameo!

The film also differentiates itself with a sense of self-awareness.  Deadpool regularly breaks through the “fourth wall” and talks directly to the audience.  He’s not afraid to mock the superhero genre either.  There’s a great scene where Deadpool is about to kill a villainous henchman but then he realises that they’re old friends.  It’s reminiscent of the Austin Powers movies.

The narrative is a little weaker when it comes to the villain – a guy called Ajax (Skrein) who was responsible for the mutation therapy.  He gets under your skin and his signature moment involves a capsule that deprives the occupant of oxygen.  That said, it’s hard to understand why he’s so villainous and what Wade was hoping to get from his services in the first place.

I’m not sure if this has the material to justify multiple sequels but as a stand-alone superhero movie, it’s about as much fun as you could ask for.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 17 February 2016

A lot of thought goes into finding a suitable release date for a movie.  You don’t want face off against a huge blockbuster and you also want to avoid having to compete against a bunch of other new films in the same week.  There are some times however where the date appears obvious.  That’s the case for How To Be Single which is being released in Australia in the aftermath of Valentine’s Day.

Borrowing a little from Sex & The City, the film follows four women in New York City who are unattached for different reasons.  Meg (Mann) enjoys her job and would rather focus on her career than a burdensome relationship.  Alice (Johnson) has just come out of a long-term relationship and is rediscovering what it’s like to be single.  Lucy (Brie) won’t settle for “second best” and is on a long quest to find a guy who is perfectly compatible.  Robin (Wilson) loves one night stands and doesn’t want to be tied to a single man.

The paths of these characters cross repeatedly throughout the film and they meet an assortment of guys who have their own views on relationships.  It’s a rushed, choppy screenplay that struggles to find the balance between the respective stories.  There’s one moment where Alice starts falling for a widowed father (Wayans Jr) but it’s all over before you even get to know him.  The continual shift between comedy and drama adds to the confusion regarding the film’s intentions.

While the film is far from perfect, it’s nice to see a romantic comedy where the ending isn’t a foregone conclusion.  You’re not quite sure what will come of these characters and while there are a few formulaic moments, there are also a few surprises.  It drums home a worthy message that yes, relationships are great but yes, single life can be great too.  It comes down to what each of us wants out of life.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 06 February 2016

Brooklyn is a beautifully told story.  It begins in 1952 and introduces us to Eilis Lacey (Ronan), a young woman from a small Irish town who lives with her mother (Brennan) and older sister, Rose (Glascott).  It’s a place that doesn’t offer a lot of career options but Eilis seems content.  She has a part time job in a convenience store and a nice set of friends she hangs out with regularly.

Determined to see her sister make something more of her life, Rose pressures Eilis into immigrating to the United States.  She has been in touch with a Catholic priest (Broadbent) and has arranged for Eilis to live in a boarding house in Brooklyn, New York under the watchful eye of its no-nonsense landlady (Walters).

It’s a difficult period for the shy, quiet Eilis.  It’s a particularly sad moment as she makes the long voyage by ship.  She is going from a tiny town where she knows everyone… to a giant city across the Atlantic Ocean where she knows no one.  She’s instantly homesick and letters from back home do little to help.  Rose tells Eilis that “even if your letters were 200 pages they still wouldn’t be long enough for your mother.”

It takes a little time but Eilis slowly forges a way through the melancholy.  She finds work as a clerk in a posh convenience store and develops a rapport with the customers.  She starts taking accounting classes at night with the hope of moving into the business world.  She makes new friends and immerses herself in the American-Irish culture.  She meets a young Italian plumber, Tony (Cohen), who is determined to win her affections.

Fate then throws a curveball in Eilis’s direction.  An unexpected event forces her to return to Ireland for a brief period and while there, she faces increasing pressure to make her stay permanent.  A company offers well-paid work as a bookkeeper and she is pursued by a well-to-do suitor, Jim (Gleeson).  Provided with two viable choices, Eilis now must make the toughest of decisions – where does she want to spend the rest of her life and who does she want to spend it with?

Based on the 2009 novel by Colm Tóibín and adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby (About A Boy), Brooklyn’s characters are honest and genuine.  This is particularly evident when exploring Eilis’s romantic dilemma.  In most Hollywood movies, one guy turns out to be a jerk/problem and the choice becomes obvious.  That’s seldom the case in reality and there’s no “villain” here.  Tony and Jim are both terrific people and it’s easy to see why Eilis’s heart is so torn.

After her breakout performance in Joe Wright’s Atonement (which earned her an Academy Award nomination in 2008), Saoirse Ronan has put together a strong resume working alongside directors such as Peter Jackson, Gillian Armstrong, Peter Weir, Neil Jordan and Wes Anderson.  She is truly outstanding in Brooklyn.  Eilis is not a hugely talkative character but you’ll feel all of her emotions.  It ties into a recent comment made by director John Crowley (Boy A, Closed Circuit) that “there’s nothing more beautiful than a close-up of a face changing its mind.”

The superb supporting cast is headlined by the relatively unknown Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond The Pines).  He shares some charmingly awkward moments with Ronan as their newfound romance takes shape.  They provide the film’s best scenes.  Jane Brennan adds sentimentality as Eilis’s brooding mother and Julie Walters (Billy Elliot) provides several good laughs as the sharp-witted head of the religious boarding house.

Brooklyn is a sweet, moving, gorgeously-shot tale about a woman trying to find where she belongs.  If I see a better film this year, I'll be surprised.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 14 February 2016

The history of this broad subject matter has been well documented.  In the late 1940s, the United States Government used its oddly named House Committee on Un-American Activities to investigate actors and filmmakers who were accused of using the medium to push their communist views on the community.  George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck, released back in 2005, brilliantly captured the era and the subject matter.

Trumbo looks at the same events through the eyes of Dalton Trumbo (Crantson), an acclaimed screenwriter working in Hollywood.  He was one of the highest paid writers in the business but that changed in the late 1940s when he was blacklisted as a Communist sympathiser.  Asked to explain himself before the House Committee, Trumbo refused to cooperate and was jailed for close to a year.

It’s hard to believe with the benefit of hindsight.  American citizens were being sacked and imprisoned merely because of their views on the government.  Directed by Jay Roach (Recount), Trumbo shows us how fear can be wrongly used as a political tool.  It’s a mistake that society keeps making again and again.

The film also shows the emotional toll that it took on those affected.  Trumbo was resolute with his views but that left him at odds with friends who felt they should yield and admit defeat.  Was the end goal worth the huge personal cost?  Trumbo’s relationship with his wife (Lane) and children also deteriorated.  They too were seen as outcasts within the community and Trumbo struggled to offer the necessary moral support.

It’s repetitive in places but Trumbo is a moderately interesting character study.  It’s not putting Dalton Trumbo on a pedestal and asking for him to be declared a saint.  Like all of us, he had his good qualities and his bad qualities.  He was continually torn between the needs of his family and his personal desires to prove the government wrong and to be an acclaimed writer.  He struggled to find the balance.

Bryan Cranston won several Emmy Awards for Breaking Bad but Trumbo marks the first time he will be attending the Academy Awards as a nominee.  He delivers a great performance and is well supported by a cast that includes a villainous Helen Mirren and subdued Louis C.K.  John Goodman also shines as the head of a film production company who specialise in low-quality movies (for use of a better term).

The film has been attacked from several angles as being factually inaccurate and it seems there is merit in their arguments.  I won’t say too much more as to do so would spoil key plot points for those previously unfamiliar with Trumbo and his work.  A little post-film reading and research may help satisfy your curiosity.