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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 05 August 2014

They’re not hard up for dollar buy Guardians Of The Galaxy was always going to be an important film for Marvel Studios.  For starters, it’s a film that introduces a bunch of new world-saving characters.  This is in contrast to the nine previous Marvel film that were all centred around the same individuals – Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Hulk.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it’s a film that isn’t relying on renowned Hollywood actors.  There’s no Robert Downey Jr, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Natalie Portman or Scarlett Johansson.  Guardians Of The Galaxy is headlined by Chris Pratt – a 35-year-old who has forged a career out of supporting performances.  His only two lead roles have been in Deep In The Valley (a 2009 romantic comedy with Kim Kardashian) and The Lego Movie (the popular 2014 animated feature where only his voice was required).

It’s curiously ironic that the two biggest names in Guardians Of The Galaxy are never seen.  Vin Diesel plays a walking, talking, fighting tree who says the same three words throughout the whole movie – “I Am Groot”.  Bradley Cooper is almost unrecognisable as the voice of a genetically engineered raccoon with a fierce, no-nonsense attitude.

Another notable point of differentiation is the fact that this is the film Marvel script to be written by a woman.  Nicole Perlman spent two years sifting through Guardians comics and crafted a story that would befit a two-hour adventure for the big-screen.  While director James Gunn (Dawn Of The Dead) claims that he re-wrote most of the script, the bottom line is that both their names appear in the credits and a small piece of history has therefore been made.  It’s a small step in changing what is a very male-dominated industry.

Given the above mentioned “risks” (for use of a better word), there were questions about whether this film could still put bums on seats.  The public provided the answer to all of those questions last weekend.  Guardians Of The Galaxy made a staggering $94m at the U.S. box-office over its first three days – the third biggest opening of 2014 behind Transformers: Age Of Extinction and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Expect sequels… and lots of them.

The premise takes a little while to get your head around but once you understand everyone’s motives, things will click.  Five incredibly different creatures unwillingly find themselves teaming up to prevent a world-destroying orb from falling into the wrong hands.  That’s it in a single sentence.

Guardians Of The Galaxy is at its best when it’s trying to be funny.  You could almost describe as a spoof in places!  It makes great use of its 1960s/70s soundtrack (that will appeal to older audiences) and there are plenty of pop culture references (Kevin Bacon the most notable).  Not everything works through.  The dramatic elements don’t particularly resonate, the villains aren’t anything special, and the script feels too “busy”.  It’s trying to squish too much into the two hour running time.

If asked for a 4-word review, I’d use an old adage and label the film as “good but not great”.  That would seem to contrast the majority view on social media who are using every superlative adjective they can think of.  Guardians Of The Galaxy will be popular and it will make a lot of cash… but I think it’s far from Marvel’s best.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 July 2014

I was chatting to a friend last week about No – the 2012 releasing starring Gael Garcia Bernal.  It told the story of a young advertising guru working in Chile who came up with a creative opposition campaign to defeat President Augusto Pinochet in the 1988 referendum.  It highlighted something that I love about cinema – it can provide insight into a person and a piece of history that would otherwise have known nothing about… if not for the movie.

You therefore imagine my disappointment when I saw this week’s crop of new release movies.  Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie is based on a UK television sitcom that has been running for three seasons.  Hercules is the second film based on the Greek hero to be released this year (one starring Kellan Lutz, the other starring Dwayne Johnson).  Deliver Us From Evil is the umpteenth film about demons and exorcisms.  It’s even from a director, Scott Derrickson, who has made an exorcism film before!  I’m referring to 2005’s The Exorcism Of Emily Rose.

To think that there are so many amazing stories in the world waiting to be told… and yet we seem to fall back on the same stuff again and again.  I guess I should be grateful there wasn’t a new vampire flick out this week.

Before this degenerates into too much of a “rant”, I should focus my attention on the film at hand.  Deliver Us From Evil stars Eric Bana as Ralph Sarchie – a New York police detective who seems to have an uncanny “radar” for picking interesting cases.  It’s never boring working with Sarchie (his partner knows this all too well) but you’re unlikely to get much sleep either.  He works throughout the night and is keen to sink his teeth into any new investigation.

Sarchie’s latest case is a strange one.  A mother turned up at a zoo, threw her 2-year-old child into a lion’s enclosure, and then started talking gibberish.  Maybe she’s speaking Latin.  Maybe she’s just crazy.  Whatever the reason, she’s locked up in a mental institution until things can be figured out.

The arrival of an unorthodox priest (Ramirez) sheds a little more light on the situation.  He tries to explain to Sarchie that there are two kinds of evil in the world – secondary evil which is committed by man and primary evil which is “something else entirely”.  The priest believes that the mother has been possessed by a powerful demon and that this case is anything but solved.

This is a familiar, no frills exorcism film that doesn’t offer much in the way of scares or surprises.  We get the standard early scenes with Sarchie expressing his scepticism and saying that he doesn’t believe in “invisible fairies” – despite the fact that the situation couldn’t look any stranger!  There’s also a seen-it-all-before subplot involving Sarchie’s wife (Munn) who is frustrated that her husband is spending too much time at work and not enough at home with their young daughter.

It may sound hard to believe but this is based on actual events.  Ralph Sarchie is a real person and he penned the 2001 non-fiction book, Beware The Night, which formed the basis for the screenplay.  I’m not discrediting Sarchie’s work as a “demonologist” but when you see some of the stuff in this movie, you’ll be wondering just how closely it mirrors the truth.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 August 2014

The opening scenes of this film are about one thing – portraying its leading character as the world’s biggest schmuck.  His name is Oren Little (Douglas) and he’s a rich real estate agent living a cushy, self-centered life.

To give you a sample of what this guy is like – (1) he takes up two car spaces on his block which forces a heavily pregnant woman to park several hundred metres away, (2) he abuses his staff at work and tells an elderly lady that he hopes she’s hit by a bus, (3) when showing off a house to a non-white couple, he treats them with complete disrespect.

Of course, the film can’t continue like this for its full 94 minutes.  We need something to make us feel happy, something to make us believe there’s a little good in everyone.  Two characters are added to the mix which will help transform Oren from bad guy to good guy.

The first is his next door neighbour – Leah (Keaton).  She’s a sixty-something-year-old singer who picks up gigs in small clubs.  She lost her husband several years ago and like Oren, she lives alone.  The second is his granddaughter, Sarah (Jerins).  Oren didn’t even realise he was a grandparent but when his estranged son rocks up on his doorstep asking him to take care of her for 9 months (while he goes to prison), he has no choice.

Director Rob Reiner made some terrific films across a variety of genres in the 1980s and 1990s – This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men, The American President.  Unfortunately, some of his more recent romantic efforts have floundered at the box-office – The Story Of Us, Alex & Emma and Rumour Has It.

Unfortunately, And So It Goes fit into that second group.  There’s a scene where Oren decides that he doesn’t want to look after his granddaughter and so he goes to great lengths to track down her mother – who turns out to be a drug addict.  He’s robotic-like.  He doesn’t even show a fleeting glimpse of doubt or remorse – despite the objections of everyone around him.  By creating such an awful human being… screenwriter Mark Andrus has put me in a position where Oren’s character shift is hard to take seriously.

There are glimpses of promise throughout the film – largely the heartfelt conversations shared between Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton as they open up about their respective characters’ feelings for the other.  It reminded me a little of Andrus’s career highlight – his fantastic, Oscar-nominated screenplay for As Good As It Gets.  Unfortunately, these moments are overshadowed by silly, tacky, seen-it-all-before moments such as sequence where Oren is forced to deliver a baby.  Really?  Is this is best comedy they could come up with?

It’s great to see another romantic comedy/drama pitched at older audiences (they’re often overlooked) but And So It Goes fails to creates something that is both memorable and meaningful.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 July 2014

What is the purpose of a funeral?  Is it one final act to respect the wishes of the deceased and to allow them to move into the afterlife?  Or is it more for the benefit of those still alive – a way of providing closure and a chance to reflect in the company of friends and family.

These questions get to the heart of Still Life – an immensely warm-hearted drama from writer-director Uberto Pasolini (a producer on The Full Monty).  It’s the story of John May (Marsan), a middle aged man who has worked for the local council for 22 years.  When a resident dies with no immediate next-of-kin, it is John’s responsibility to organise a funeral or cremation.  He also does his very best to track down anyone who may wish to be present.

It’s a movie bursting with poignant moments.  In the opening montage, we see John at a series of funerals.  A coffin rests at the front of the church, a priest reads a simple eulogy, and John stands by his lonesome in a back pew.  He wasn’t able to find any friends or family members to attend.  It’s sad to think that someone has left this world and there isn’t a single person who cares.

Equally moving are the sequences where John enters the home of a recently deceased individual and pieces together their final hours.  He looks at the bed which has been slept in for the last time.  He looks at the dirty dishes which will never be cleaned.  He also flips through old photo albums and scrapbooks – looking at tiny fragments of a life and trying to get a perspective on who the person was and what they achieved.

The reason John cares so much… is contained in his own life story.  He resides in a small, run-down flat and lives alone.  He has the same meal every night – tuna with toast, coffee and an apple.  He works in a dull, grey office with no view.  He always wears a black tie and suit.  In essence, John is the kind of guy you don’t notice, the kind of guy who doesn’t stand out.  He keeps to himself and like so many of the people he investigates, he too has no friends or family.

The crux of the film’s narrative arrives when John is called into his boss’s office and told that he’s being made redundant.  The council is introducing “efficiency savings” and John is an easy target given his thorough work ethic.  They’d prefer to let someone new take the role – someone who doesn’t incur extra costs on funerals when a cremation would suffice, and someone who won’t spend weeks searching for a long lost next-of-kin.  John is then left with one final case – an elderly man by the name of William Stoke.

Backed by an agreeable film score from Academy Award winning composer Rachel Portman (The Cider House Rules) and the idyllic cinematography of Stefano Falivene (Bel Ami), Still Life is a beautiful film.  It’s dripping with nostalgia and contains many sweet, memorable touches – such as a moment when John sits in an old arm-chair and looks across at a curious dog.

46-year-old Eddie Marsan (Happy-Go-Lucky, Sherlock Holmes) appears in every scene and it’s the finest performance of his career thus far.  Relying more on expressions and actions (as opposed to dialogue), you get a clear sense of his character’s tender, sympathetic nature.  You’ll be dearly hoping that he can find happiness in his own life.

A few plot developments feel a touch forced but they’re easy to forgive given the film’s charm and thought-provoking premise.  There aren’t many films that have reduced me to tears but Still Life can now be added to that short list.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 26 July 2014

When Hollywood churn out an apocalyptic movie, you’ll often see huge explosions, massive car crashes, hundreds of people running through the streets, oh, and a LOT of special effects.  It’s therefore no surprise to see people use the term “disaster porn”.  Studios will spend upwards of $200m to create the most extravagant disasters ever!

If you’re a filmmaking without deep pockets, you have to take a different approach to this genre.  You can’t rely on state-of-the-art visuals that involve gigantic tidal waves or menacing alien spaceships.  You need to take a more minimalist approach and create tension through other means (a great script helps too).  Recent examples include 28 Days Later, The Road, Melancholia and Shaun Of The Dead (to add a splash of comedy).

Writer-director Zak Hilditch, working off a tiny budget for what is his first feature film, has tried to put his own spin on the genre.  These Final Hours begins with a very quick overview.  An asteroid has landed deep in the northern hemisphere and created a wall of fire and lava that will soon engulf the entire planet.  There’s no superhero to save the day.  There’s no miracle on the horizon.  This is the end – pure and simple.

Hilditch could have focused the film on a range of different of characters but instead, he has chosen just one.  James (Phillips) is an ordinary guy living in Perth.  He drinks.  He does drugs.  He cheats on his girlfriend.  He neglects his mother.  He takes very little responsibility.  It’s clear that the most important person in James’s life is himself.

James knows that he has 12 hours until the apocalypse reaches the Perth shoreline.  Instead of worrying about how to survive, These Final Hours asks an interesting question – what would you do in this same scenario?  If you had just a few hours left to live, how would you spend the time?  Would you spend it in the company of family?  Would you host an “end of the world” party?  Would you commit suicide so as to avoid the pending horror?

In James’s case, he has found himself at a moral crossroads.  He planned on spending his final day at a drug-fuelled party hosted by his girlfriend (Beck) and her brother (Henshall).  Instead, he’s stumbled across a young girl (Rice) who has been separated from her father and is pleading for help.  Should he think of himself and go to the party?  Or, just this once, should he think of someone else and assist the scared girl?

It’s a grim premise but some might be surprised at how just dark this film is.  It doesn’t shy away from the gravity of the situation.  There’s a scene in which James walks into a library and finds a couple with two kids who are about to kill themselves.  The violence is also quite confronting it’s no surprise to see the movie receive an MA rating.

Nathan Phillips (Snakes On A Plane) gives a passionate performance in the leading role.  Also impressive is Angourie Rice who was just 12 years of age at the time this film was shot two years ago.  The cast is rounded out by some memorable cameos from the likes of Daniel Henshall (Snowtown) and Sarah Snook (Not Suitable For Children). 

The lack of budget provides a few credibility issues.  I thought for sure there’d be more carnage on the roads and more people out on the streets.  A few too many residents appear to have “checked out” early and the suburban streets of Perth resemble a ghost town.  I’m not sure it adds up.  That said, I like the concept and it’s nice to watch an apocalyptic action film that asks a few questions.

You can read my chat with star Nathan Phillips by clicking here.