Movie Review – Abominable

Not the worst Yeti film released in recent years, but Abominable still falls short.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Elle Cahill

One evening, Yi (voiced by Chloe Bennet) encounters a young Yeti, Everest (Joseph Izzo), who has escaped from a secret science facility and is hiding on her roof. She and her friends embark on an adventure to help Everest return home to his family, undertaking a magical journey across China. With the recent loss of her father, the journey becomes so much more for Yi as she learns to process and embrace her grief.

Abominable is the latest release from DreamWorks and it’s definitely one of their more emotionally charged stories. Yi, her mother and her grandmother are all dealing with the passing of her father in their own way. Her mother attempts to act normal, as if nothing has changed, creating tension between her and her daughter. There is a nice dynamic between Yi, Everest and her two friends that brings some comic relief to an animated film that is dealing with some relatively heavy subject matter.

Similarities could be drawn between Yi and Inside Out’s human lead character Riley. Both girls are going through some major changes and are having to adjust quickly despite not being ready for their respective transitions.

With stunning visuals, Abominable has a similar look to other DreamWorks pictures including Kung Fu Panda and Boss Baby, but it puts its own twist on the style. Whether it be the detailed creation of an entire landscape or a single flower, each scene is a work of art. One of the earliest scenes is quite spectacular, showing Yi playing her violin on the rooftop with the city behind her.

While picturesque, Abominable doesn’t quite have enough punch for it to land with any lasting dramatic or comedic impact. In the future, I hope Dreamworks continues to explore the potential of its animation style. At the same time, the production team really needs to apply the same level of attention to the underlying narrative to create films that are both beautiful and memorable.

Abominable is available in Australian cinemas from 19 September

Image © Universal Pictures 2019

Movie Review – Ad Astra

James Gray’s latest takes us to the stars.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Zachary Cruz-Tan

Ad Astra is a quiet, withdrawn movie about a lonely man on a quest to find his father, who has isolated himself on the edge of the solar system and possibly gone mad. It’s a slow, sparse trek into the outer reaches of space and examines the man’s soul as if he were making a pilgrimage. It’s a film more concerned with sights, sounds and self-discovery than with cheap action. Some might be bored by its inactivity, but Ad Astra, directed by James Gray, is unmistakably majestic.

The movie is set in the near future, where mankind has taken to the stars in search of intelligent life. We meet Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt), who works for Space Com – a kind of global NASA entity – and is assigned to make contact with his dad Clifford (Tommy Lee Jones). Clifford was a Space Com hero who led a deep-space intelligence mission to Neptune many years ago and then disappeared. Now, unidentified energy surges have started emanating from Clifford’s space station, sending disastrous ripples through the solar system, damaging life on Earth.

Ad Astra is in many ways like Apocalypse Now. Both films are about uniformed men ordered to find an elusive and potentially dangerous renegade. Both involve long introspective expeditions into the unknown. Both heroes face impossible decisions at their destinations and begin to question the morality of their missions. Both movies are visually rich and thematically ponderous. The difference is Apocalypse Now was set against fire and death and Ad Astra lives amongst the stars.

Pitt’s performance is vital and finely tuned. Roy is a man who has shut himself off from emotion and human connection, like a Vulcan with severe daddy issues. He’s basically a blonde Spock. His heart rate is seldom above 60. He is calm even in the face of calamity. As his mission progresses, he encounters people who’ve in some way been affected by Clifford. He becomes the target for quiet resentment, and Pitt is very good at keeping his feelings at a simmer. It’s one of those humble performances that doesn’t announce when it’s working you.

I haven’t seen any of James Gray’s other movies, but it’s clear he has a firm grip on visuals and pacing. Ad Astra is glacial. There are long stretches where little seems to be happening and we begin to appreciate the beauty of a lone shuttle coasting against black, or the deep reds of Mars sifting through corridors. Too much action and we don’t pause to smell the roses. Ad Astra beckons us to relax, and then blows us away with its scope and ambition.

It feels like the science-fiction genre is in the midst of a renaissance, where swashbuckling space battles have grown tiresome and a more thoughtful, questioning channel has opened. It no longer seems enough to fight aliens, we now want to study them. Whether Ad Astra ends up confirming alien life, I will leave to you to discover, though I don’t think it’s the point. This is a movie I suspect you will either adore or revile.

Ad Astra is available in Australian cinemas from 19 September 2019

Image courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

Movie Review – Good Boys

Good boys gone bad…

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Elle Cahill

When Max (Jacob Tremblay) and his two friends, Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) get invited to a cool kid’s party, the boys see this as a chance for Max to finally kiss his long-time crush Brixlee (Millie Davis). That is until the sixth-grade boys realise they know nothing when it comes to girls and kissing. In a mission to educate themselves, they get caught up in a stand-off between Max’s high school neighbour Hannah (Molly Gordon) and friend Lily (Midori Francis) when the girls catch them spying. Adventure ensues as the boys skip school, get involved in a drug deal and have run-ins with the police, leaving a trail of destruction behind them.

Good Boys comes from the minds behind Bad Teacher, The Office and Year One. It has all the essence of Superbad – which isn’t surprising considering it’s produced by Seth Rogen and executive produced by Jonah Hill – but it has an innocence and a naivete that is both funny and endearing.

Good Boys is hilariously inappropriate and is made all the more funnier by the three boys repeating phrases without fully understanding what they’re saying. It definitely took me back to being in primary school.

The lead trio have great chemistry between them. Each of the boys is at a slightly different level of development with Max being girl crazy, Thor being focussed on trying to fit in, and Lucas wanting everything to stay as it is. It also proves to be an interesting age for character development, with the boys each being driven by their own motivations, but also lacking the emotional intelligence to communicate their different wants and desires to each other. There’s also a lot of crying, which is refreshing to see in a male-geared film, and while it’s often played off for laughs, it does have its place in the film.

It’s also great to see a lack of adults trying to be cool and relatable. Here, the adults genuinely don’t care about the kids, and view them merely as an irritation, which only further adds to the comedy.

Good Boys is a fun look at young boys on the brink of puberty who are trying to mature and adjust to newfound social pressures. It also explores the growth and changes in friendship that occurs as people grow up. Taking notes from adventure comedies like Pineapple Express and Date Night, Good Boys explores the insanity of the situations the boys find themselves in, and plays it up to the absurd.

Good Boys is available in Australian cinemas from 19 September 2019

Images (c) Universal Pictures 2019

Movie Review – Downton Abbey (2019)

 Four years on from the final season, Downton Abbey makes its cinematic debut, and it’s safe to say that fans of the series will not be disappointed.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Elle Cahill 

Downton Abbey picks up in 1927 – one year after the series finished – as the Crawley’s are informed that King George V (Simon Jones) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James) will be staying with them while visiting the area. Excitement and nerves quickly turn to frustration and disappointment when the servants discover they won’t be waiting on the King and Queen. Instead, they are to be stripped of their duties by the Royal’s own staff.

Upstairs, the Crawley’s are experiencing their own drama. Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) discovers that her cousin and hand to the Queen, Lady Maud Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton) has decided not to name Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) as heir to her fortune, so Violet hatches a plan to confront Maud when she arrives at Downton and convince her to change her mind.

The film version of Downton Abbey has definitely been made with the fans in mind. It cleverly acknowledges important past characters, such as Sybil Branson, but still provides enough background information to ensure newcomers can follow along. The film largely avoids drawing from past storylines, choosing to simply place audiences in the Downton Abbey universe during a time when excitement and conflict naturally unfold.

All the regular cast members return, along with several new players who add some drama to the storyline. Series writer Julian Fellowes has also been kept on for the film, carefully constructing a story that can be completely resolved within the space of two hours. While each subplot comes to a predictable conclusion, the Downton service staff bring a light-heartedness to the film that makes it thoroughly enjoyable.

As always, Downton Abbey well and truly belongs to Maggie Smith. Whether she’s engaging in witty banter with Isobel Merton (Penelope Wilton), or facing off with Lady Maud, she is captivating in every scene, bringing a touch of feistiness to an otherwise conservative society. Other memorable characters include the enthusiastic Joseph Molesley (Kevin Doyle) whose nervousness ends up revealing itself in a hilarious manner, and Daisy Mason (Sophie McShera) whose spunk and wandering eye gets her into trouble.

Filmmaker Michael Engler is in familiar territory here, having directed several Downton Abbey episodes and recent period drama The Chaperone. In collaboration with the production design team, he has continued the glamorous aesthetic of the series, with beautifully extravagant sets and costumes.

Downton Abbey knows its audience and knows what’s going to appeal to them. It’s also careful not to alienate new audiences, subtly reintroducing characters for those unfamiliar and bringing in a brand-new story without any past context needed. It’s very easy watching and is sure to be a hit amongst loyal fans.

Downton Abbey is available in Australian cinemas from 12 September 2019

Image © Universal Pictures 2019

Movie Review – Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Director James Bobin turns out a surprisingly breezy adventure film for intrepid, fun-loving kids.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Zachary Cruz-Tan

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is good-natured, easy on the brain and far more entertaining than it should’ve been. The Dora the Explorer cartoons have always championed bravery and determination, led by a stout Latina girl, her loyal monkey companion and a talking backpack. This new live-action version of the character gives us something more: a real sense of danger (at least on a level that children can appreciate) and a spunky lead performance by Isabela Moner, who is filled with energy and goodness. This is the kind of kids movie kids should be seeing.

It all begins in the jungles of Peru. On the shore of a quiet river sits a lovely little timber house. There, Dora (Moner) and her archaeologist parents, Cole (Michael Peña) and Elena (Eva Longoria), live quite serenely, shuffling through old maps, inspecting ancient artefacts and planning adventures into the deep dark forest. Alas, Cole and Elena’s latest quest to uncover the lost Incan city of Parapata is too deep and too dark for Dora, so they send her off to L.A. to spend some time with her cousin Diego (Jeff Wahlberg). They think a little city air and a season in an American school will do her good. She might even make a friend.

One look at Dora though and it’s abundantly clear that she’ll be happy to talk to monkeys and poisonous frogs for the rest of her life. Humans are too much work. Luckily, Cole and Elena go missing in the Amazon, which becomes a simple excuse to dump Dora, Diego and two of their classmates, Randy (Nicholas Coombe) and Sammy (Madeleine Madden), in the middle of the rainforest to find them. Never mind how they get there, or why Randy and Sammy have to tag along. What matters is that once the kids begin their rescue mission, the movie gets interesting. Think Indiana Jones meets Legends of the Hidden Temple.

At the end of the day, it’s Moner who is most effective. She seems to genuinely be having a great time, even when she’s about to be devoured by quicksand. There are thrills, spooky sounds in the night, dangerous animals, booby traps, jungle puzzles and even a secret society tasked with protecting the lost city of gold. It’s a grand adventure, populated perhaps by two teenagers too many, but it does the world of Dora some harmless service.

There are upcoming movies about pissed off birds and ugly dolls. For some reason the studios think children are going to enjoy them. I dunno, maybe they will. But if you’re reading this and you have kids, and you’re thinking of a family excursion to the movies, you could do far worse than Dora and the Lost City of Gold.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is available in Australian cinemas from 19 September 2019

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Movie Review – Angel of Mine

An interesting concept that gets bogged down by a lack of story progression.

 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Elle Cahill

Angel of Mine is a fascinating character study of a woman who cannot overcome the death of her child. Director Kim Farrant sets up the film beautifully, showing Lizzie (Noomi Rapace) as a woman suffering through a divorce and struggling to make ends meet in a job she doesn’t enjoy. At a children’s birthday party, Lizzie spots Lola (Annika Whiteley), the sister of her son’s friend, and becomes convinced she is her daughter that she believed died in a fire. Lizzie befriends Lola’s mother (Yvonne Strahovski) and gradually begins to lose her grip on reality.

As soon as Lola is introduced, we start to see a shift in Lizzie. Rapace begins to outwardly express the grief Lizzie has bottled up inside, hinting that she may not be in the best emotional or mental state. She portrays her as a woman unhinged and deeply scarred from events that were outside of her control. While her actions are completely irrational, you can’t help but empathise with her. As Lizzie stalks Lola, Farrant carefully builds spine-tingling tension that lasts right up until the final moments.

Rapace’s performance is nicely contrasted by Strahovski as Lola’s mother Claire. Where Lizzie is quiet, Claire is loud and abrasive. When Lizzie is sneaky and passive, Claire is violent and angry. As Lizzie gets closer to her daughter, Claire becomes more and more paranoid and protective. The juxtaposition leads others to doubt whether Lizzie is actually insane and whether Claire’s accusations against her have any truth to them.

Angel of Mine may be led by two phenomenal performances from Rapace and Strahovski respectively, but it’s ultimately let down by its story. Farrant brilliantly sets the tone for the film, but the stakes don’t quite get high enough for the final reveal to pay off properly. There is a complete lack of momentum in the middle as the film becomes weighed down by its own character study. The final act is then rushed through, reaching a conclusion that is too quick and too perfect for the film to end on a memorable note.

Angel of Mine is available in Australian cinemas from 5 September 2019

Image courtesy of R&R Films

Movie Review – It Chapter Two

Pennywise is back – and he ain’t clownin’ around. It Chapter Two is bigger, scarier and funnier than the first.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Rhys Pascoe

Clocking in at a staggering 1138 pages, Stephen King’s gargantuan 1986 novel It was always going to be tough for any filmmaker to successfully adapt. Not to mention it’s chock full of weird shit – from teen orgies to magical god turtles (seriously, look it up).

However, Argentine director Andy Muschietti has done exactly that, with It Chapter Two bringing this horror duology to a stirring, spooky and seriously strange end. Much like King’s novel, this second film is long, unwieldy and sometimes a slog – but what it lacks in structure it more than makes up for in thrills and spills.

It Chapter Two picks up 27 years after the events of the first film. The Losers Club have gone their separate ways, with all but one (Isaiah Mustafa’s Mike) leaving Derry and any memory of Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) behind in the process. But when children start to disappear from Derry’s streets once again, Mike holds each member of the club to their vow of returning home to put an end to the evil clown once and for all.

James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain and Bill Hader star as older versions of Bill, Beverley and Richie respectively. The whole cast wonderfully captures the unique ticks and quirks of their younger selves, but none more so than James Ransone’s hopeless hypochondriac Eddie.

The film’s overarching theme is one of repressed trauma and facing long-forgotten fears – struggling screenwriter Bill can’t find closure; Beverley has bounced from an abusive father to an abusive husband; and Richie is using stand-up comedy to hide a secret. The film takes its time to set the table and flesh out its ensemble, before splitting them up so they can each revisit and do battle with their nightmarish past. The character-driven narrative depends on its actors to lean in and bear the emotional burden, which they absolutely do – particularly Chastain and Hader.

Of course, It Chapter Two wouldn’t work without someone preying on these personal demons, and Skarsgard’s portrayal of Pennywise is once again phenomenal. A seamless blend of performance and visual effects, Skarsgard gleefully goes all in on Pennywise’s head-spinning insanity.

In the first film, Pennywise preyed on childhood fears; now, he has years of repressed trauma and disenchantment to exploit. The result is something angrier, more primal and upsetting than before.

It Chapter Two is terrifyingly entertaining as well as just plain terrifying. Given the choice to ‘go hard or go home’, Muschietti has definitely opted for the former. At nearly three hours, this isn’t some 90-minute penny dreadful – it’s a sprawling cosmic journey that strikes a great balance between spookiness and King’s trademark strangeness. On occasion it struggles to stay afloat under the weight of its own ambition, but by and large this is a triumphant finale that sticks the landing.

It Chapter Two is available in Australian cinemas from 5 September 2019

Image courtesy of Roadshow Films

Movie Review – The Kitchen

Widows 2.0… set in 1970s New York City.

⭐ ⭐ ½
Elle Cahill

The Kitchen follows three women (Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss) who must quickly learn to become independent when their husbands are incarcerated in an FBI sting. Upon realising the current racket leader isn’t supplying the support promised to local businesses, the women decide to take over. While expansion plans are underway, the husbands are released from prison early, threatening the empire the women have established.

In her directorial debut, screenwriter Andrea Berloff (Sleepless, Straight Outta Compton) effectively captures the atmosphere of the 1970s in Hell’s Kitchen. She successfully mixes the grittiness of the time and place with the sexiness of the fashion of the era, but ironically, it’s the story that lets her down.

Berloff struggles to capture the desperation of these three women. While it is suggested that they will be burdened by financial issues when their men go to prison, their circumstances never become dire enough to justify their turn to crime. In the end, everything is all wrapped up a little too nicely, making the whole story a little hard to believe. That being said, The Kitchen still has its good moments.

Elisabeth Moss ends up stealing the show as the damaged and downtrodden Claire who takes to crime like a moth to a flame. Moss expresses the essence of a woman who has served as nothing more than a punching bag for society, both physically and emotionally. Invigorated by her life of crime, Claire becomes a force to be reckoned with and finds her place in the world.

Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish each bring a certain level of gusto to their respective roles, but their characters don’t have the same level of depth or complexity. Haddish is definitely the weakest link, which makes sense considering this is a big step away from her recent comedic films. This isn’t to say she’s bad; she simply doesn’t carry her character as convincingly as the others.

Ultimately, The Kitchen is an interesting film about female empowerment, but it fails to bring anything more to the table. Its untimely release also means that comparisons are inevitably going to be drawn between it and 2018’s Widows, with the latter unfortunately being a far superior film. The Kitchen has all the components of a thrilling and entertaining film, but the end result is neither compelling nor memorable.

The Kitchen is available in Australian cinemas from 29 August 2019

Image courtesy of Roadshow Films

Movie Review – The Farewell

Lulu Wang explores the cultural gaps between East and West.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Zachary Cruz-Tan

There are movies that speak to me on such intimate frequencies they almost seem to be whispering into my ear and no one else’s. The Farewell, the latest film by Lulu Wang, is tender and warm, and it speaks directly to me about my relationship with my grandma. I think we as moviegoers are fortunate when we encounter a film that knows how to reach us.

The Farewell is based on parts of Wang’s life, but I suppose, as someone of Chinese descent, it could also be about parts of mine. We meet Billi (Awkwafina), a young Chinese American girl living in New York with her mum and dad. One day, she learns that her paternal grandma (Zhao Shu Zhen) back in China is stricken with stage 4 lung cancer. Instead of bearing bad news, the goal for Chinese families is to make the patient’s remaining days as happy as possible, even if it means concocting an elaborate fake wedding to explain why the entire family has suddenly convened in her living room.

Billi is most befuddled by this deception. She moved away from China when she was very little, so she’s grown up adopting Western standards. She feels her grandma should be told the truth. After all, it’s what any of us would do, right? She might have affairs to settle, old disputes to resolve. The rest of the family remains obstinate. As Billi’s uncle Hai Bin (Jiang Yong Bo) explains, “It’s the responsibility of the family to carry this emotional burden for her”.

The Farewell is a fiercely elegant picture that would’ve seemed less so had it not been led by Awkwafina and Zhao Shu Zhen. The relationship between Billi and her grandma is the emotional centre of the movie. For the story to work, we must first be drawn in by their affections for each other. Awkwafina, with her candid face and slight hunch, is very good at seeming discontent with her own emotions. Zhao, meanwhile, is basically like my own grandma. Generous, doting, cheeky, stubborn, endlessly jovial. I swear, somewhere there is a factory producing little identical old ladies from the mould of a Chinese grandmother overlord.

And so, the entire family continues with its questionable charade. The cast in a movie like this must be very good, and it is, especially Diana Lin as Billi’s mother, who presents a strong appearance but falls apart whenever she has to remind Billi of what it means to be Chinese. Wang milks her cast for every last ounce of earnestness, which might not have been difficult since her story flows with ease and cleverly demonstrates how two cultures can be completely different without either being wrong.

There is one moment, however, that slightly jarred me from complete happiness. It comes after the movie has ended. I won’t say what it is, but it shouldn’t have been included. It snuffs out much of the emotional drama the film so patiently built. When we are told something, we want to believe it, not be fooled suddenly by a cheap trick. The rest of The Farewell is among the finest minutes of cinema this year.

The Farewell is available in Australian cinemas from 5 September 2019

Image courtesy of Roadshow Films