Aladdin (2019)

(PG) ★★★½

Director: Guy Ritchie.

Cast: Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Will Smith, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Numan Acar, Billy Magnussen.

"And then I said, 'no, I really want to work with M. Night Shyamalan'."

It sometimes seems like Disney has a magic lamp of its own. If it does, it probably acquired it shortly before 1988 when it co-produced Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and helped usher in the Disney Renaissance. Over the next six years, the House of Mouse would release four of its biggest and most beloved movies of all time (The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King), effectively saving a company that had been on the ropes critically and commercially, having narrowly survived a hostile takeover in 1984.

Such doldrums are hard to envisage now. Everything Disney touches turns to gold - it owns Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and now many of 20th Century Fox's properties (including The Simpsons), and is on an absurd winning streak. Even when it rolls the dice on live-action remakes of its own classics, it still comes out in front.

The updates of Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and Beauty & The Beast were excellent, with only this year's Dumbo teetering close to disappointing. The secret to the successes (magic lamps aside) has been the filmmakers's ability to stay faithful to the cartoon origins while giving them a contemporary tone and a lush, lavish look. Dumbo struggled with its slender source material, and was somewhat hit-and-miss with its invented additions to the storyline, but Cinderella and Beauty & The Beast somehow walked the line between nostalgia and modernity.

This fidelity to the animated predecessors is a double-edged scimitar for Aladdin. There is a spectre that hovers over the film - the ghost of the greatest Disney voice performance of all time - and this is just one of the factors that results in things taking a while to settle into their own groove. When it finally takes wing though, this version of Aladdin soars like a magic carpet.

As per the 1992 take, this is the story of a "street rat" named Aladdin (Massoud) who bumps into an incognito Princess Jasmine (Scott) in the starts of the Arabian city of Agrabah. When Aladdin attempts to see her again in the palace, he is captured by the evil vizier Jafar (Kenzari), who uses him to secure a magical lamp hidden in a treacherous cave.

But first, let's deal with that looming spectre. When Smith first appears as the Genie it initially feels like a bad riff on the bravura comedic turn from Robin Williams, complete with some slightly off CG and a cavalcade of silly voices. But once the overacting disappears and the blue djinn becomes more, well, Will Smith-like, it starts to work.

In the end he does a fine job filling William's pointed slippers (let's be fair, it's probably the toughest gig since Heath Ledger signed on as The Joker). Smith has the mix of bravura and heart the role requires, and honestly it's his best turn since Hancock. Once the Genie settles down after he's first let out of the lamp, Smith does a decent job of making the character his own, which is a big ask.

Similarly the film's introduction to the characters of Aladdin and Jasmine, as well as their meet cute, feel awkward. The pacing and tone are off, and it's hard to tell whether Massoud and Scott are right for the roles or whether they have chemistry. The first scenes (after an awkward "now here's a little story" prologue) attempt to capture the Looney Tunes-esque energy of the original, with director Ritchie employing some strange slowed-down and sped-up techniques in a misguided attempt to burst out of the blocks at a similar pace to the '92 version.

But eventually it all clicks into place, right around the time the Genie and Aladdin start bonding in the desert and get down to the nitty gritty of what three wishes entails. From there, the film is increasingly energetic and charismatic, but with its own sense of energy and charisma, rather than an imitation of the cartoon's. The relationships work, the casting feels right, and Ritchie seemingly gets a grip on the material well, particularly the Prince Ali entrance and a thrilling magic carpet pursuit late in the piece.

The remake tweaks a couple of things to great effect. Jasmine's character is bolstered nicely, even if her new song Speechless is an American Idol-meets-Eurovision histrionic ballad that sits awkwardly. She gets goals of her own beyond "must get married", building beautifully on the smarts and strut of the '92 Jasmine. Similarly, the characters of the Sultan and the Genie are made to be more three-dimensional (pun intended).

Scott is good in the role and the film eventually nails the chemistry between her and Massoud, who also does a nice job as the plucky "scoundrel". The pick of the call sheet though is Kenzari (who looks like an Arabic Bret McKenzie) as Jafar. He doesn't chew the scenery (which must have been tempting) but instead he delivers a great turn that has a nice balance of sinister and believable.

Once the film finds its rhythm, the only real let-down is the A Whole New World sequence, which doesn't wow like anticipated. But its final act works wonderfully and the whole thing looks sumptuous, with Ritchie acquitting himself reasonably well, even if it feels fairly restrained by his standards.

If we're going to start ranking the Disney live-action remakes (which I'm probably going to do soon, let's be honest), Aladdin doesn't soar to the same heights as the updates of The Jungle Book or Cinderella, but it certainly sticks its landing after a rough take off.

The Hustle

(M) ★½

Director: Chris Addison.

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson, Alex Sharp, Ingrid Oliver, Nicholas Woodeson.

"Wait. Is this a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or Twins?"

I'm all for gender-flipped remakes. If we're going to remake pretty much every film, then why not at least get a different perspective on things? And fuck the haters, the Ghostbusters remake was good.

But this is not good. A female-centric remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (which was itself a remake of Bedtime Story) The Hustle has its moments, but you can count them on one hand and they're not that great anyway. As such, it falls well short of its intended target (which I can only assume is to be an hilarious comedy).

Hathaway and Wilson star as the yin-yang con artists going head-to-head on the French Riviera - Hathaway is Josephine, the cultured and meticulous Englishwoman, while Wilson is Penny, the crass yet oddly successful Australian. Can they work together, or will the love of the con drive them apart?

Watch that trailer and you'll see all the funniest bits in the film. Unfortunately, there's another 92 minutes to endure, and despite the best efforts of the Hathaway and Wilson, The Hustle struggles to be either funny or entertaining.

The humour is sporadic partly because the tone is odd but also because the script is so uneven. In places it's weird, then it gets weirder, then it's back to being a low-key farce, then it returns to being way over the top. A so-called Lord Of The Rings con the pair attempt midway through the film sends the film's crazy-meter so far into the red zone it never recovers. 

But mostly the issue lies with The Hustle's lack of subtlety. It sets the bar awkwardly high from the start by making every character and scenario obscenely OTT, thanks mostly to Wilson's unbridled performance and a decision to make every male character a turned-up-to-11 douchebag. Plenty of men are douchebags enough without the film overselling it to the point of ridiculousness. Any points that could have been made about gender issues get lost in a blizzard of silliness. 

Hathaway gives her all in spite of this. Her performance is pretty good, and she has the best strike-rate of funny lines. Wilson sprays her gags like an out-of-control machine-gun, missing way more than she hits. In fact, how much you enjoy The Hustle will depend on how much you can tolerate Wilson. When she's great (like, say, in Pitch Perfect) she's up there with the best filmic funny people of the past 10 years. But here she's poorly served by the material, and her (presumed) ad libs that regularly miss the mark.

The film's inability to find its funnybone, combined with a tone that continually wobbles into bizarre places it struggles to get out of, makes this a criminal disappointment.

What next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Endgame?

Hilarious image stolen from hilarious interwebs.

The Endgame is here, and it leaves the MCU in a far different shape than how it found it. So what next?

All of this requires spoilers. Lots of spoilers.

Now I don't wanna be that guy, so I'm giving you plenty of room to get out before you see anything that you don't want to. If you've accidentally stumbled in here, now is your chance to get out.

Or perhaps I can interest you in a spoiler-free review of Avengers: Endgame?

Or how about a ranking of every MCU film?

Still here? Ok, well, let's have at it.

But first - some of these films are confirmed and in various stages of pre-production. Marvel is yet to officially announce its release slate beyond Spider-man: Far From Home, due out later this year, despite having release dates locked away for a swag of films. So this blog is a mix of what to expect in the likely films, and some speculation on others we haven't heard official word on yet.

Black Widow solo film

Despite the events of Endgame, a Black Widow solo film is reportedly still going into production in June with Aussie director Cate Shortland (Somersault) at the helm. This means it's more than likely going to be set in the past, and given Black Widow's rich comic history as a spy who turned from the dark side, this isn't a bad thing. Of course, resurrecting superheroes is commonplace in the comic books (and the films - hell, that's the whole plot of Endgame), but don't expect that to happen just yet in Black Widow's case, if at all. But that's OK - there's plenty of past to dig through before the remaining Avengers start digging her up.

A-Force

One of the many cool moments in Endgame's final battle sees the remaining female superheroes team up to take down Thanos and by Spider-man some time. It's a great sequence that immediately reminded many people of A-Force - a short-lived all-woman Avengers-style team that appeared in the comics that featured Captain Marvel, the Inhumans' Medusa, She-Hulk, the intergalactic Singularity, mutant Dazzler, and Nico Minoru. Given the slow shift towards more female-led MCU films and bigger roles for actresses in the franchises, something like A-Force isn't too far away. And if that single scene in Endgame is anything to go by, it will be incredible.

Guardians Of The Galaxy 3

In case you missed it, Guardians 1 & 2 director James Gunn was dumped from Guardians 3, only to be re-hired several months later. This is possibly in response to cast members (particularly Dave Bautista) threatening a boycott if Gunn wasn't brought back. But since then, the most interesting GOTG3-related thing we've seen is in the end of Endgame, in which Thor is seemingly now part of the Guardians (or the "Asgardians Of The Galaxy" as he put it). While "Asgardians Of The Galaxy" is a Marvel comic series that began last year, it features neither Thor nor any of the MCU Guardians. And as far as I can tell, Thor has never been a member of the Guardians (unlike, say, Iron Man). Still, the idea of Thor butting heads with Starlord as part of the Guardians team is a tantalising one. Here's hoping this was more than just an Endgame end gag.

Spider-man: Far From Home

Of course the only MCU film we're 100% sure about is Spider-man's next outing, which appears to draw heavily on the impacts of Endgame, most notably in how Tony Stark's death affects Peter Parker. But if the latest trailer is anything to go by, it will also deal with an apparent rip in the time-space continuum caused by Thanos' snap that brings Mysterio AKA Quentin Beck into the MCU timeline. Unless of course Mysterio is lying, which is highly probably, given he's a villain in the comics. The prospect of a multiverses is a tantalising one, as evidenced by Spider-Man: Into The Multiverse. With at least a third Spidey film on the cards, could we see a crossover between the MCU and the animated multiverse?

X-Men & Fantastic Four

The other thing Spider-Man: Far From Home's multiverse line teases is an easy entry point for the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Deadpool without having to recast. With a simple reference to another split in the time-space continuum, the MCU gets to keep Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, as well as all the X-Men, which would also make all of the existing X-Men movies MCU canon. The dire Fant4stic didn't get much traction, so expect that whole line to start again, but the prospect of pulling Hugh Jackman out of retirement for a stint in the Avengers is surely too good an opportunity for the MCU to pass on. Of course, they could always recast the roles (they'll probably keep Ryan Reynolds no matter what, which works given the meta nature of Deadpool) but the multiverse idea is at least an easy way to explain where the mutants and F4 have been all this time. And while we're on the subject of F4, what are the odds of Galactus being the Big Bad of the next phase of the MCU? Also, my money's on an Avengers Vs X-Men movie appearing sometime soon in the next phase if the mutants get introduced. It's a cool comic arc, and has the potential to work much like Civil War did.

Secret Invasion

The debut of the Skrulls in Captain Marvel could pave the way for one of the biggest crossover events of the Marvel comics - Secret Invasion. In this arc, the Skrulls invade Earth and impersonate some of Earth's mightiest heroes, leading to the ultimate "who can you trust?" thriller. This kind of twist-heavy storyline is much-loved by many comic fans (I can take it or leave it) and it's up there with House of M and Civil War as one of the most significant events in the comics. Now that we have Skrulls in the MCU, it's probably only a matter of time before we see Secret Invasion.

Dr Strange 2

This is rumoured to be happening, and it's more than likely that it will see Dr Strange go up against his friend-turned-enemy Baron Mordo (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the first Dr Strange film). But there's another Big Bad lurking in the background that could play a larger part not just in a Dr Strange trilogy but maybe in the next phase of the MCU as a Thanos-style boss - Dormammu. Dormammu is a supremely powerful character constantly trying to tear down the wall between our dimension and his own dark dimension. What's not to say that Thanos' actions might have weakened that wall, setting up Dormammu as an Avengers-worthy foe?

Captain Marvel 2

Given the huge success of the first outing from Carol Danvers, a sequel is a sure thing. As to what that will entail, it may see a continuation or escalation of the Kree-Skrull War, which is a major storyline in the comics and plays a part of the first film's plot. But the reality is that it could go anywhere - Carol Danvers has had some wild and varied adventures in the comics that have taken her all over the universe. One thing that seems likely is that her huge power set will probably keep her in space where the MCU gurus can find foes with enough firepower to keep her on her toes.

Black Panther 2

As with Captain Marvel, the success of Black Panther guarantees a sequel. But with two of his greatest foes - Killmonger and Klaw - already dealt with, who does that leave for T'Challa to fight in a follow-up? M'Baku, played by Winston Duke, is a regular enemy in the comics and could be next, but it would be great to see Namor finally make an appearance in the MCU. Namor and Black Panther have had a fiery relationship in the comics, including in one recent arc which saw Namor and his Atlanteans all-but destroying Wakanda. And remember Okoye saying something about an undersea earthquake in Endgame? Hmmm.

The new TV shows

WandaVision, Falcon & The Winter Soldier, and Loki will be hitting the screens of Disney+ subscribers in the next few years. But what they will contain is anyone's guess, especially given that Vision and Loki are officially dead in the MCU. Elizabeth Olsen told Variety that WandaVision will be set in the 1950s, which has many hypothesising that time travel is involved. Others have suggested the '50s setting hints at a reimagining of Tom King's excellent 12-part Vision comic series, which saw Vision try to have a normal suburban life in between his superhero outings. As for the other series, Falcon & The Winter Soldier has the potential to be the buddy cop procedural you never knew you wanted, while Loki could find Thor's trickster brother returning from the dead (he's magic after all) and apparently zooming through history or wreaking havoc in an alternate timeline.

She-Hulk

There are hundreds of Marvel characters we haven't seen yet in the MCU, but one of the most popular is She-Hulk. Lawyer by day, hulk-alike hero by night, Jennifer Walters has become a fascinating character in recent years who is truly worthy of a spot in the MCU. While Marvel has been known to pull unexpected heroes up to the A League on occasion (Guardians Of The Galaxy is the best example to date), She-Hulk's big moment is surely soon.

The Eternals

The Eternals were a race of god-like ancient aliens who counted Thanos among their number and had something to do with the creation of life on Earth. It's all very convoluted in the comics and has been retconned a couple of times, but that hasn't stopped a movie about The Eternals being put onto the MCU slate. Angelina Jolie and Kumail Nanjiani are apparently attached, but given the huge amount of power at their disposal, it's possible The Eternals could be setting up the Big Bad for the next phase of the MCU.

The old TV shows

With Netflix and Disney going their separate ways in the lead up to Disney+, this leaves some great characters in limbo, namely Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Daredevil and Luke Cage. But the cancellation of their Netflix series may be a good thing. One of the reasons these shows never crossed over with the MCU was reportedly to do with timing and the logistics of how quick a TV show is made compared to a film. With the shows out of the way, there is no better time than now for The Defenders to make their way onto the big screen. The perfect place may be Spider-Man 3, given they're all New Yorkers, or even Dr Strange 2 (a fellow Big Apple inhabitant). I don't care how they do it, I just hope they do it.

Top End Wedding

(M) ★★★½

Director: Wayne Blair.

Cast: Miranda Tapsell, Gwilym Lee, Kerry Fox, Huw Higginson, Shari Sebbens, Tracy Mann, Ursula Yovich, Matt Crook, Elaine Crombie, Dalara Williams.

"Best funeral ever! #LOL"

When was the last time you saw a film with an indigenous woman in a leading role, let alone a film in which she was a romantic lead opposite a white man?

Outside of The Sapphires (which also starred Tapsell), it's hard to think of many more. This helps make Top End Wedding pretty significant in terms of the Australian cinematic landscape. I don't want to overplay this significance because the important thing is whether the film is any good or not. Having said that, I don't want to downplay it either, because this is kind of a big deal.

But let's get down to brass tacks. Top End Wedding, while far from perfect, is a fun Aussie rom-com that mixes gentle humour and gorgeous travelogue scenery which helps disguise the fact this is a fairly by-the-numbers romance, albeit with an endearing and fascinating cultural twist.

The central couple is Lauren (Tapsell) and Ned (Lee), who become engaged when Ned decides to refocus his life. Given a short window in which to get married by Lauren's domineering workaholic boss (Fox), the pair head to Lauren's hometown of Darwin for a short-notice wedding, only to find her parents have split up recently and her mum has disappeared.

This kickstarts an adventure across the NT as Lauren and Ned try to find Lauren's mum, leaving their friends to put together the perfect wedding in the meantime.

The cultural elements of Top End Wedding and the way it portrays indigenous life and its indigenous characters is beautifully done - these aspects are important but not laboured, significant but matter-of-fact. It's this balance of how the film displays an old culture in a modern world that helps elevate the run-of-the-mill rom-com storyline in a major way, and it contributes to giving the film a distinctive flavour to set it apart in an otherwise often vanilla genre.

It also helps that Lee and Tapsell are charismatic leads with good chemistry. In the wrong hands the slow-starting story could have fallen apart, but they make for a believable couple from the get-go, which helps keep the movie moving in its slower moments. Top End Wedding is a film that builds momentum and emotion, which is another plus.

Lee and Tapsell are supported by a solid cast. Fox is great as the "Cruella de Vil" boss of Lauren who has her own beautiful arc amid the matrimonial and maternal chaos. Higginson is solid as Lauren's blokey yet unravelling father, while Sebbens is a stand-out as one of Lauren's Darwin besties.

These things help overcome the fact that the script and edit are far from perfect. There are distractions and oddities that don't amount to much, and large portions of the story (particularly during the search for Lauren's mother) that don't add a lot. There are some initially strange moments that pay off (such as Lauren's dad's penchant for hiding in the pantry) but just as many that don't. Some of the scenic diversions are, yep, scenic, but that's about all.

But the end result is a heart-warming one, with the final half an hour going a long way towards making up for any flat spots. It could have been funnier, but there's a lot to like in this film that takes us to a lot of places Australian cinema hasn't visited very often, both geographically and culturally.