Movie, music and TV reviews by Matt Neal, a Rotten Tomatoes-accredited ABC Radio film critic (also an author, musician, journalist and all-round okay guy).
This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on July 24, 2025.
(M) ★★★★
Director: James Gunn.
Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Wendell Pierce, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell.
"You know you're going to have to fix the sidewalk, right Mr Superman?"
I have no idea if this is a controversial opinion, but this is the best live-action Superman film of the past 50 years.
Yes, the 1978 one is iconic and integral, with great performances and some effects that still hold up to this day, but it's silly by modern standards and features one of the worst retconning plot devices of all time. It's 1980 sequel is also strong, but suffers from a goofy tone. And the less said of Superman III and IV the better.
Superman Returns was solid but ultimately forgettable except for Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor (which isn't something to crow about these days), while Man Of Steel was a dour boring mess unworthy of Henry Cavill.
Which brings us to this rollicking ride of superhero movie. While it doesn't feel as groundbreaking or all-time classic as The Dark Knight, Iron Man, or Gunn's own Guardians Of The Galaxy, Superman is a solidly plotted story that overcomes the key problem with Kal-El - that he's an unbeatable bore - and uncovers new depths to the character.
Wisely deciding against yet another origin tale (let's face it - we all know how that goes), Superman takes flight mid-story, with the Man of Steel (Corenswet) suffering a physical defeat in the wake of interfering in an international conflict without US government authorisation, handing Superman a diplomatic defeat to go with his literal wounds.
As Superman grapples with his place in the geo-political landscape, as well as his relationship with Lois Lane (Brosnahan), Lex Luthor (Hoult) is hard at work, plotting to destroy Superman from all angles.
Corenswet is a natural in the super-suit. We don't see him in Clark Kent mode a huge amount, but his Superman is a wonderfully well-rounded character, full of frustrations and fears, with a health dash of ego and humility, yet also fundamentally good in that special Superman kind of way. Gunn has written his Man of Steel to perfection, and Corenswet brings him to life in self-assured style.
Similarly, Lois Lane feels like a real person, unlike previous renditions, and ditto for Jimmy Olsen, which is again tribute to Gunn's script, but also the performances of Brosnahan and Gisondo. Lex Luthor is also great, and full points to Hoult and Gunn for making the character genuinely smart and genuinely dangerous. Luthor feels like a threat to Superman in more ways than one, and best of all, he thinks he's in the right, which is always the best way to write a villain.
The movie leans into its comic-book nerdiness, making good use of characters and situations that might not be so well known to the non-nerds, including Mr Terrific, Metamorpho, and the Guy Gardner version of the Green Lantern. Hawkgirl is sadly underwritten, but the rest are given enough depth to make them interesting beyond their powers.
Superman moves quickly - not quite like a speeding bullet - but its pace keeps it fun, never getting bogged down. Even the film's biggest character moment, in which Clark allows Lois to interview Superman, is full of tension and drama, making it a highlight scene amid the bombast and CG destruction.
The film could do with being funnier, as a few too many laughs fall flat, but it's an interesting and intelligent take on a character we've seen plenty of times in the past half a century. The DC Universe is in good hands with Gunn at the helm. To deliver the best Superman film to date is a superheroic feat.
Usually when I analyse and forecast a Hottest 100, there are some pretty straight-forward factors to assess - vote aggregator 100 Warm Tunas, how much an artist has been played on triple j/Spotify/YouTube, ARIA chart position, Tik Tok views, and the bookies.
But compiling predictions on the Hottest 100 Australian songs of all time is much harder because it boils down to one indefinable quality - cultural cachet.
Run this poll annually, and you'll see songs rise and fall as their status and legacy are re-evaluated and re-assessed by an adoring public. Just look at the first three years of triple j's Hottest 100 when it was an All Time poll. There are 56 songs shared between the first two countdowns of 1989 and 1990, while the 1991 Hottest 100 only featured 39 songs that hadn't appeared in either 1989 or 1990. Part of the reason why triple j ditched the All Time format was because each year was going to be too similar, but it was, for a short time at least, a fascinating real-time record of cultural cachet. It was basically the national equivalent of how our favourite songs might change on any given day/week/month/year, depending on our mood and what comes to mind.
So how do we assess cultural cachet? I have no friggin' idea, but here is what I do know, which is a mix of available data, gut feeling, and intuition.
Past winners
There have been 17 of Aussie winners of annual Hottest 100 countdowns. For the record, they are:
Buy Me A Pony - Spiderbait (1996)
No Aphrodisiac - The Whitlams (1997)
These Days - Powderfinger (1999)
My Happiness - Powderfinger (2000)
Amazing - Alex Lloyd (2001)
Are You Gonna Be My Girl? - Jet (2003)
Wish You Well - Bernard Fanning (2005)
One Crowded Hour - Augie March (2006)
Big Jet Plane - Angus & Julia Stone (2010)
Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (2011)
Riptide - Vance Joy (2013)
Talk Is Cheap - Chet Faker (2014)
Hoops - The Rubens (2015)
Never Be Like You - Flume feat. Kai (2016)
Confidence - Ocean Alley (2018)
Elephant - The Wiggles (2021)
Say Nothing - Flume feat. May-A (2022)
All of these songs are a pretty solid shot of making the Hottest 100 (except for The Wiggles' cover of Elephant, which is ineligible because triple j has ruled out Like A Versions, thank god).
But some are more likely than others. Songs like Amazing, Are You Gonna Be My Girl? and Hoops feel like their esteem has faded in the decades since they were voted in, while tracks such as Riptide and Somebody That I Used To Know have remained in the zeitgeist like bugs trapped in amber. Riptide has spent 14 weeks in the ARIA top 50 this year alone, for chrissake. If that's not a tick of approval, then I don't know what is.
Best of the '10s
Here are the top 10 Aussie songs from the best of the decade (2010-2019) Hottest 100 that aired in 2020 (with their actual finishing position in brackets):
1. The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala (1)
2. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (2)
3. Covered In Chrome - Violent Soho (4)
4. Innerbloom - Rufus Du Sol (5)
5. Magnolia - Gang Of Youths (6)
6. Never Be Like You - Flume feat. Kai (8)
7. Big Jet Plane - Angus & Julia Stone (9)
8. Brother - Matt Corby (10)
9. Talk Is Cheap - Chet Faker (11)
10. Riptide - Vance Joy (13)
Six of these were previous Hottest 100 winners, which goes to show that's a meaningful stat. The non-winners in this list are also pretty key, and will more than likely make the Hottest 100 Australian songs of all time. Innerbloom in particular is one to watch - the original and a remix both made it into this countdown of the '10s.
2013's Hottest 100 of the previous 20 years
From 2013's Hottest 100 of the previous 20 years, here are the top 10 Aussie songs (with where they finished in that countdown in brackets):
1. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods (4)
2. These Days - Powderfinger (8)
3. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (9)
4. My Happiness - Powderfinger (10)
5. Hearts A Mess - Gotye (12)
6. Tomorrow - Silverchair (17)
7. Prisoner Of Society - The Living End (20)
8. One Crowded Hour - Augie March (24)
9. Frontier Psychiatrist - The Avalanches (27)
10. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap (38)
Given that this poll covered 1993 to 2013, it's a really key one because it hits in the sweet spots for a lot of the older demographic that's likely to return to triple j for a vote. All these songs are a solid bet to make it into this poll, and I would be shocked, shocked I tell you, if these 10 don't make the 100.
The cover band version
The Horses - Daryl Braithwaite
Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House
Khe Sanh - Cold Chisel
You're The Voice - John Farnham
Never Tear Us Apart - INXS
Thunderstruck - AC/DC
Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil
Throw Your Arms Around Me - Hunters & Collectors
Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? - The Angels
Down Under - Men At Work
I spent a lot of years playing covers songs in pubs, and it's quite the microcosm of musical criticism. If you ever doubt that Wonderwall really means a lot to people, go and hear it played live in a shitty pub through a shitty PA by a group of shitty musicians and see how it still hits the mark.
With that in mind, here are 10 songs that hit the pub band cover setlist/backyard BBQ playlist demographic that are a fair shot to make the list. And remember that thing I said before about cultural cachet? Well this list has a lot of it. The Horses is basically a meme, but irony is dead so it will go really high - expect it in the top 10. Don't Dream It's Over is edging towards a billion plays on Spotify and is the #1 Australian song on the ARIA charts at the moment. Thunderstruck is #2 on that same ARIA chart and has 1.8 billion plays. Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? was a Like A Version in recent years, and Down Under got sampled and flogged on triple j recently as well. And I couldn't even squeeze Paul Kelly's How To Make Gravy in here, which got turned into a goddamn movie and has made the 21st of December into the next best thing to a national public holiday.
The Aussie albums list - can it teach us anything?
Here's the top 10 from the top 100 Aussie albums Hottest 100 that triple j did way back in 2011.
1. Odyssey Number Five - Powderfinger (2000)
2. Frogstomp - Silverchair (1995)
3. Back In Black - AC/DC (1980)
4. The Living End – The Living End (1999)
5. Kick - INXS (1987)
6. Internationalist - Powderfinger (1998)
7. Apocalypso - The Presets (2008)
8. Wolfmother – Wolfmother (2005)
9. Since I Left You - The Avalanches (2000)
10. Unit - Regurgitator (1997)
All of these bands are a shot to be in the countdown, but Powderfinger and Silverchair loom large. Powderfinger had four albums in the top 50, while Silverchair had all five of their albums within the top 70. These Days, My Happiness, Tomorrow, Straight Lines - these are the songs to watch from these two powerhouse bands.
The last all time list - 2009
It's been 16 years since triple j did a countdown of the Hottest 100 songs of all time (which Smells Like Teen Spirit won yet again), but here's every Aussie song that made the cut.
1. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods (17)
2. These Days - Powderfinger (21)
3. Throw Your Arms Around Me - Hunters & Collectors (23)
4. My Happiness - Powderfinger (27)
5. Tomorrow - Silverchair (33)
6. Prisoner Of Society - The Living End (34)
7. Into My Arms - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (36)
8. Betterman - John Butler Trio (47)
9. Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House (50)
10. Berlin Chair - You Am I (52)
11. One Crowded Hour - Augie March (59)
12. Thunderstruck - AC/DC (63)
13. Hearts A Mess - Gotye (77)
14. Back In Black - AC/DC (91)
15. Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil (97)
The Nosebleed Section was #9 in its year and if you were paying attention you'll notice it's popped up on two other non-annual lists. It's a landmark track in Australian music - only 1200 Techniques' Karma precedes it as an announcement of the arrival of Aussie hip hop. But all 15 songs on this list are strong favourites to make the countdown come July 26.
Pop go the ladies
The Hottest 100 Australian songs of all time is going to be a sausage fest, because the history of Australian music has been dominated by men. triple j has proven that if you start playing a balance of music from male, female and nonbinary people, audiences love it, and will demonstrate this love by voting for music that isn't just performed by white dudes. But this upcoming countdown is going to be a return to the white men, because that's what history is.
With that in mind, here is the female pop equivalent list of that cover band list from earlier.
Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie
Untouched - The Veronicas
My Island Home - Christine Anu
Born To Try - Delta Goodrem
Sweet About Me - Gabriella Cilmi
Chains - Tina Arena
Bedroom Eyes - Kate Ceberano
Physical - Olivia Newton John
I Touch Myself - Divinyls
Torn - Natalie Imbruglia
The bookies really rate that Veronicas song, and if there's not a Kylie song or two in the countdown I'll be hugely surprised. In terms of cultural cachet, Divinyls have never gone away, nor has Kylie or Natalie Imbruglia's cover of Torn, and is it just me or has Tina Arena been having a moment in recent years? These are all things to watch out for come July 26.
The most streamed Aussie songs on Spotify
This is by no means precise, but here (to the best of my reckoning) are the most streamed Aussie songs on Spotify that have previously appeared in an annual Hottest 100.
4. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye (2.14 billion)
5. Chandelier - Sia (2.033 billion)
6. The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala (2.028 billion)
7. Be Alright - Dean Lewis (1.998 billion)
8. Glimpse Of Us - Joji (1.56 billion)
9. Walking On A Dream - Empire Of The Sun (1.23 billion)
10. Never Be Like You - Flume feat. Kai (0.967 billion)
"Overplayed" is totally a thing, but you can't ignore the sheer insanity of the numbers here. People aren't sick of these songs, even if you are, so watch out for some/all of these tracks to get a guernsey in the countdown.
Sportsbet
Here are the odds from Sportsbet (WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GAMBLING WITH?) as of July 10.
1. My Happiness - Powderfinger ($2.37)
2. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods ($3.75)
3. The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala ($8.50)
4. Innerbloom - Rufus Du Sol ($10)
5. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye ft. Kimbra ($11)
6. These Days - Powderfinger ($13)
7. Untouched - The Veronicas ($15)
8. Down Under - Men At Work ($17)
8. How To Make Gravy - Paul Kelly ($17)
10. Riptide - Vance Joy ($19)
10. The Horses - Daryl Braithwaite ($19)
This is a really solid list. I'm stoked that it's close to my list, but who the hell knows, right? And remember: you win some, but you lose more.
So here are my predictions
1. These Days - Powderfinger
2. The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala
3. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods
4. Riptide - Vance Joy
5. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra
6. The Horses - Daryl Braithwaite
7. Innerbloom - Rufus Du Sol
8. Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House
9. Walking On A Dream - Empire Of The Sun
10. Stay - The Kid Laroi feat. Justin Beiber
I feel like this takes all the bits and pieces of cultural cachet and data that I've been talking about and throws them together. I'm not super confident about The Kid Laroi, but recency bias and huge Spotify numbers get it into the top 10 for me. If I had to swap it out, I'd swap in a Flume track like Never Be Like You.
This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on July 9, 2025.
(M) ★★★
Director: Gareth Edwards.
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Ed Skrein.
"Quiet... Spielberg is coming."
There is something repetitive and comforting about the Jurassic Park franchise. Every movie is effectively the same - Man creates Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs eat Man - but the sight of CG reincarnations of these incredible creatures never gets old.
What does get old are the plots and characters and contrivances around these CG creatures of a bygone era. And so my review of Jurassic Park #7 basically boils down to this - if you love it when dinosaurs attack, and that's all that matters, then it's three stars. If you're over it, then it's a two.
The plots, characters and contrivances this time around see a team led by gun-for-hire Zora Bennett (Johansson) and palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis (Bailey) heading to one of the islands formerly used to clone dinosaurs to recover DNA samples from three of the biggest beasts, at the behest of a pharmaceutical company led by Martin Krebs (Friend).
Along the way they stumble upon a family on a yacht trip in need of help, and a couple of dino mutants that definitely didn't exist 66 million years ago.
The biggest problem with these movies isn't the dinos, but the people. The first third of Rebirth grinds, most notably in a scene where Johansson and Ali talk about their pasts and their problems. It feels forced and slows the film. Worst of all, it feels like a scene written into the film to accommodate the two A-list stars attached to the project.
And perhaps this gets to the issue here. Having Johansson and Ali as the surprisingly lovely and charming mercenaries means they have to be front and centre as the protagonists. But the whole thing would be better if told from the perspective of the family. It would have increased the intrigue and mystery, and added a layer beyond the film's plot of "find dinosaur, extract sample, go home". It also would have made the film about half an hour shorter.
Instead the low stakes of the mercenaries' mission overwhelms the more interesting tale of survival, and strips the film of much of its potential tension. Fortunately the meh moments are punctuated by dinosaurs doing what dinosaurs do best.
There are a couple of great sequences here, most notably a raft ride near a T-Rex that's straight out of Michael Crichton's original novel. It's heart-in-mouth stuff. The opening scene, with its mist-shrouded Big Bad running amok, is also great, harkening back to the horror-tinged openings of the first two films, while a cliffside encounter with a Quetzalcoatlus and a surprisingly funny yet tense cameo from an old dino fave are also very welcome.
The incredible thing is that even though this is among the worst of the Jurassic Park movies, it's still okay. Rebirth is enjoyable despite its familiarity. It's formulaic and frustrating, but you're here to see some dino action, and on that point it never fails to deliver.
This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on June 26, 2025.
(PG) ★★★
Director: Dean DeBlois.
Cast: Mason Thames, Gerard Butler, Nico Parker, Nick Frost, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Peter Serafinowicz.
"Fly Cat-Bat!"
I have no problem with people remaking films, but good lord, have an actual reason to do so beyond "money".
Modernise it, gender-flip it, put it in space, explore its themes through a different lens, improve it. But don't just make the exact same movie again. And certainly don't do it with the same director.
Because that's what is going on here. And in redoing this charming 2010 CG-animated film as a CG-heavy live action film, How To Train Your Dragon loses a lot of its charm, and gains very little in return.
It's still the tale of Hiccup (Thames), the son of a Viking chieftain (Butler), who lives on an island besieged by dragons. After a run-in with the most fiercest dragon of them all, Hiccup learns these creatures aren't evil, just misunderstood, and sets about changing the destiny of his clan.
Admittedly it's been a while since I watched the original (15 years in fact), but this remake feels pretty close to a beat-for-beat retelling. There is nothing new here - the director, who co-directed the original, has even boasted of recreating sequences shot-for-shot. At least when Gus Van Sant did that with Psycho it felt like some kind of cinematic thought experiment. This just feels like an attempt to make money.
Leaving aside the remake thing for a moment, if the 2010 version of this didn't exist, on its own this film would be okay. It's weirdly flat in terms of tone and laughs, but there is no denying the beauty and power of its story, and some of the flight sequences are exhilarating and look incredible.
The cast also does a pretty solid job. Thames is too handsome to play Hiccup, but the kid can act, and Parker is great as the star Viking teen Astrid. Butler gives perhaps the best performance of his career in the role of Stoick, which he voiced in the 2010 original, and Frost does a pretty good job at providing comic relief. The incredibly talented Serafinowicz is oddly wasted though, and the kids are largely annoying, but not enough so as to ruin the film.
But compared to the original, this live action knock-off feels oddly charmless, with nothing new to offer. It fails to recapture the spark of its predecessor, which perhaps says just as much about the nature of cinema as Van Sant's Psycho experiment. Even with all the same ingredients, sometimes a dish just doesn't taste the same.
This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on April 17, 2025.
(PG) ★★★★
Director: Jake Schreier.
Cast: Florence Pugh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, Lewis Pullman, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Geraldine Viswanathan, Wendell Pierce, Chris Bauer, Olga Kurylenko.
Peekaboo.
Is it really possible, after 36 films, to do something new and interesting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
How about an hilarious and action-packed deep dive into depression, loneliness, self-worth, mental health, and overcoming the darkness buried within our souls?
It's not totally new - at some point there will be punching and explosions - but the latest MCU team-up goes out of its way to do the unexpected, and not rely on the superhero subgenre's touchstones as much as its predecessors.
The film centres on an unlikely assortment of heroes brought together for a mission that isn't what it seems. Something else that's not what it seems is Bob (Pullman), a strange man they meet along the way.
It's not a new approach - the grab-bag roster of loser-heroes is basically Marvel-does-Suicide Squad or another take on the cosmic underdog team-up that was Guardians Of The Galaxy. The only difference here is the subtext. Thematically, this is about mental health and what we all have to do to get through the day, ignoring our darkness and shame along the way. It's not your standard superhero fare.
It's also kinda refreshing that the film does its best to avoid the punching and explosions as much as it can, and still deliver a meaningful story with tension and drama. The narrative is so wonderfully entrenched in its character arcs and their excess baggage that even though the finale is wildly different to any other Marvel movie, it works.
For the hardcore Marvel-heads, this is a strong next chapter for some of the franchise's more interesting B characters. The new Black Widow Yelena Belova (Pugh) is front and centre, and in fine form. She is the film's heart and depressed soul, but is ably assisted by an equal broken one-time Captain America John Walker (Russell). Ghost (John-Kamen) is again given short shrift and is little more than her superpower, but Red Guardian (Harbour) is a very welcome addition to the bunch.
But the real stand-out is Bob (Pullman), who digs deep to give his character plenty of layers, bringing to life one of Marvel's most mercurial and mysterious yet maligned players in a fantastic way. Credit to the script from Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, who make it all work, but Pullman is perfectly cast in an unexpected role.
Maybe most of you have already checked out of the MCU (the box office on this sadly suggests that is the case), but this is the most inventive and interesting Marvel movie in a while. It's definitely one of the most thematically intriguing films of the franchise, if not the most intriguing.
This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on April 17, 2025.
(PG) ★★★★
Director: Jared Hess.
Cast: Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, Jennifer Coolidge, Rachel House.
Everyone was keen for a game of "Duck or Chicken?".
There are two brilliant backroom decisions that help make A Minecraft Movie the hilariously idiosyncratic joy that it is; the hirings of Jared Hess and Jack Black.
Hess was the fourth director attached to his film, which spent about a decade in development hell. But it's his distinctive sense of humour that elevates this above the mindless CG mess is could've and probably should've been. While his post-Napoleon Dynamite films have been little-seen, that droll and often abstract comedy line through his career is incredibly welcome here.
And Jack Black was certainly not the first choice to star in this video game adaptation as it bounced between writers and directors - he was initially merely a voice cameo as an animated pig. But with Jack Black at his most Jack Blackest, A Minecraft Movie becomes a very particular type of comedy. Be warned: if you have no time for Jack Black, then give this a wide berth. But if you can tolerate him and even enjoy his antics, then grab the kids and great ready for the most fun family film of the year.
Black stars as Steve, a regular dude who accidentally stumbles into the Overworld (ie. the regular Minecraft world) and makes it his home until he is captured by Malgosha (voiced by House), the evil piggish queen of the hellish Nether. Into the middle of this feud stumbles siblings Natalie (Myers) and Henry (Hansen), washed-up '80s gaming legend Garrett "The Garbage Man" Garrison (Momoa), and real estate agent/petting zoo owner Dawn (Brooks).
The plot itself is nothing special - it's essentially a MacGuffin quest. But given that Minecraft is essentially a plot-less video game, the film does a good job of finding a story to cut through yet also include the lore of this immensely popular sandpit game, ensuring the diehards will get their in-jokes and Easter eggs, and the noobs will get something they can enjoy even if they've never played the game before.
In between the insane CG action sequences (and everything in this is basically insane CG), there are some great character beats, particularly for Momoa's '80s-loving douchebag, and the siblings of Natalie and Henry. It's more than enough to flesh-out their characters and make us care, which is more than a lot of other big-budget blockbusters can manage these days. The film also does a good job of making it look like these actual humans are existing in and interacting with a cubic digital world, which is no mean feat.
But A Minecraft Movie really thrives as an ode to creativity, self-belief, and having a bonkers sense of humour. Black busts out random songs, there is an absurd love-story sideline about a vice-principal and a Minecraft villager, and a kid builds a jetpack that destroys a town icon (which happens to be a potato). There is plenty of classic Hess/Black moments wrapped together, playing out against the backdrop of either the lame town of Chuglass or the eye-melting world of Minecraft, and 90 per cent of them work.
Video game movies used to be a cursed proposition, but A Minecraft Movie shows what can be done if you lean into the game's aesthetic, dig out what makes it so popular (fun + creativity), and inject the whole thing with a self-aware sense of humour that's not a million miles away from The Lego Movie. In mining for laughs, it crafts a gem of a movie.
2001: A Space Odyssey brought about a new dawn of sci-fi in 1968, but it was arguably Star Wars that really sparked a revolution. Even though 2001's special effects hold up better, Star Wars created a new level of FX artistry while simultaneously cementing the blockbuster era that began just two years earlier with Jaws. Big, incredible effects, matched with symphonic sci-fi storytelling - these are the ingredients that audiences look to today when they hit the cinemas in droves. It's rarely the auteur-driven drama or star vehicle, as it was when The Godfather or Rocky orThe Graduate dominated the box office.
Between 1977 and 1984, the three original Star Wars films were the biggest box office hits of their respective years, as were the Bond-goes-sci-fi-actioner Moonraker, and Steven Spielberg's boy-meets-alien charmer E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. The only non-sci-fi chart-toppers in that time were Grease and Raiders Of The Lost Ark. This pent-up passion for sci-fi meant it was only a matter of time before someone decided to throw a big FX budget at a comedy.
Enter Ghostbusters. Based on an idea by fourth-generation paranormal enthusiast Dan Aykroyd, it was knocked into shape by director Ivan Reitman and writer/actor Harold Ramis. It was Reitman and Ramis who reined in Aykroyd's initially intergalactic/futuristic idea which "would have cost something like $200 million to make", Reitman told Premiere magazine in 2014 - those kinds of budgets wouldn't set sail until James Cameron got on board the Titanic in 1997.
In fact, Aykroyd's ability to throw out a lot of his early "darker", "scarier", "intergalactic" ideas and take on Reitman and Ramis' concepts not only made the film what it is, but says a lot about Aykroyd's creative skills as a collaborator. Reitman even praised Aykroyd's openness - lesser writers would've been less receptive, and Ghostbusters would never have been made, let alone become a classic.
Reitman and Ramis gave the film its "ghost janitors in New York" feel, but fate gave them their cast. Aykroyd had written the script with two former Saturday Night Live co-stars in mind, but Beverly Hills Cop took Eddie Murphy out of the equation and a mix of heroin and cocaine did the same for John Belushi. Instead Ramis and another ex-SNL-er Bill Murray became the stars, with Ernie Hudson taking on Murphy's significantly pared-down role.
The premise is king in Ghostbusters - it's great trick is making its paranormal subject matter normal. It's heroes are work-a-day service providers, like ratcatchers and garbagemen - they wear overalls, inhabit a fire station and drive an ambulance/hearse. It somehow helps make the whole unbelievable scenario believable.
But it's the cast that makes it work, particularly Murray. While his sleaziness has aged poorly (though it's interesting to note how his character's attitude to Sigourney Weaver's Dana changes and becomes caring when she becomes possessed, arguably showing his true colours), his motormouth improvisations are still on the money. His big personality elevates the Ghostbusting team, and thus the movie, especially alongside the goofy charm of Aykroyd's enthusiastic Ray Zantz and Ramis' nerdish Egon Spengler, who are both incredibly subdued. Hudson is unfortunately saddled with a role so underwritten, you could almost cut him from the film without it hurting the finished product - it's only that a gets off a couple of good one-liners and brings a biblical perspective that he has an impact.
Outside of Murray, the secret casting weapons are Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis. The pair play their duel roles in a brilliantly complimentary way that isn't spoken about enough. Weaver's Dana is wary, aloof and sharp - she's a grounding force in the movie - while Moranis' Louis is an annoying dweeb who's there for comic relief. Yet when both become possessed, they each take on animal qualities in their own way that work together perfectly. Dana is like a dog in heat, while Louis is a monkey, sniffing and testing things to see what they are. Each interpretation of possession works, and the film is all the better for it.
More than 40 years on from becoming the first big-budget comedy, Ghostbusters continues to sparkle because it remains funny and its premise still works. There are so many great lines - Murray's delivery of "Yes, it's true. This man has no dick" is one of the greatest pieces of comedy of the 20th century - and its laugh ratio is high, while many of its sci-fi FX hold up surprisingly well today. The stop-motion hellhounds of Zuul aren't great, but there is a composite shot with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man lurching down a New York street that is immaculate to this day.
Seriously, this shot is great.
FX-driven comedy begins here and is yet to be surpassed. The following year's Back To The Future is another sci-fi laugher that probably owes a debt to Ghostbusters, but it didn't cost as much. Back To The Future 2 pushed that envelope a few years later, but arguably it would take 13 years and Men In Black to even come close to this level of big-budget blending between comedy and science-fiction.
