Onward

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on March 5, 2021.

(PG) ★★★★★

Director: Dan Scanlon.

Cast: (voices of) Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mel Rodriguez, Octavia Spencer, Lena Waithe, Ali Wong, Grey Griffin, Kyle Bornheimer.

Gandalf was quite the pyromaniac in his younger days.

I am continually in awe of Pixar. When they go off pushing the boundaries of family films with things like the existential Soul or the emotional Inside Out or the mostly dialogue-free Wall-E, the results are beyond incredible. But even when they tell more conventional stories, such as the Toy Story films or Finding Nemo, they do it with such effortless ease that it's easy to overlook how perfect the results are.

Onward, a film that's release was cruelly hobbled by the early days of the COVID pandemic, is one of Pixar's more straight-ahead stories, especially when compared with 2020's other Pixar release Soul. There are no "why am I here?"-type crises or concepts as abstract as The Great Before. This is a good ol' fashioned fantasy adventure, with an important quest, magical trials, and lots to learn along the way because you don't go on a physical journey without making a personal one. 

And it's goddamn brilliant.

Set in a fantastical world where magic has been superseded by the conveniences of modern living, Onward follows brothers Ian (Holland) and Barley (Pratt) on a quest to reunite with their late father. A wayward magical spell has brought dear old dad partially back from the dead - he's basically a pair of legs - but the brothers will have to work together if they're going to find the MacGuffin that will make him whole before the remainder of the spell wears off. 

The twists on the familiar give this something special. The "fantasy world as an analogue for our own world" is rarely pulled off this well (Terry Pratchett's Discworld books are a rare example of doing it better), and from this flows the film's whimsical yet clever tone. It has a beautiful look, a wonderful sense of humour, a canny enthusiasm for its Dungeons & Dragons-inspired world, a sharp satirical bent in places, but it also has a grounded quality that comes from making its characters feel real and multi-dimensional. 

It's the depth in the characters and their relationships that elevates this to greatness. Onward uses its family dynamics to examine father figures, grief, coming of age, confidence, destiny, and so much more, all the while leading to a tearjerker finale that's right up there with Pixar's biggest "I've got something in my eye" moments, such as the first 12 minutes of Up or the furnace of Toy Story 3. And like Coco, it dares to examine death from a young perspective, while never talking down to its audience. It delivers its findings with tact and heart, leaving its characters believably changed. 

It's all part of that Pixar magic, that sprinkling of Pixar dust. The story is impeccably written. There's not a hair out of place on its elven head - every plot point or seemingly innocuous moment is paid off at exactly the right moment. From a mother's workout routine manifesting as super-maternality to light-hearted impressions of a step-dad, everything has its place in this truly magical story.

And like all the great Pixar films - and there are so many - Onward is as spellbinding as it is enriching. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and when it finishes, you'll want to watch it all over again. 

News Of The World

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on February 19, 2021.

(M) ★★★½

Director: Paul Greengrass.

Cast: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Michael Covino, Fred Hechinger, Neil Sandilands, Thomas Francis Murphy, Ray McKinnon, Mare Winningham, Elizabeth Marvel.

Everyone was jealous of his convertible.

Paul Greengrass tends to make two kinds of film - gritty thrillers based on real-life events and Jason Bourne movies. News Of The World is neither of those things. It's also a first for Tom Hanks, who has never saddled up in a Western before.

But these are seasoned pros, and they both pull on the spurs and six-guns with accomplished ease. The end result is a high-quality time-filler that doesn't push any boundaries and might not stick in the memory quite like their previous collab Captain Phillips, but it's a fine piece of work.

Based on Paulette Jiles' novel of the same name, it follows Hanks' Captain Jefferson Kidd, a Civil War veteran who makes a living by travelling from town to town and reading newspapers to folks who either ain't got the time or skills to do so themselves. While on the road, he finds a young girl named Johanna (Zengel) who has been orphaned twice over - firstly when Native Americans took her from her family, and then a second time when the US government takes her back from the Native Americans who raised her. Kidd promises to take her to the next town, but the universe has other ideas.

News Of The World is like a simplified, less racist take on the final act of The Searchers, stretched out into the perfect vehicle for Hanks, AKA America's Dad, who pushes every paternal button with his performance. Kidd is an almost impossibly honourable hero, and as a result, every decision he makes is exactly as you expect. Hanks' performance is excellent and the character's well written, but the film is low on surprises and big on tropes.

In spite of the fore-knowledge of how things are going to play out, it's well worth watching, if only for Hanks and newcomer Zengel. This German 12-year-old does plenty with little, portraying large emotions with few words or facial expressions, shouldering as much of the film's load as Hanks. 

Perhaps its the expectations that come with Greengrass and Hanks, but News Of The World feels good without being great. It's superbly shot, filled with wonderful landscapes, and fine performances. It offers an insight into a fascinating world - post-Civil War Texas - and even has a bit to say about the nature of news and truth. 

But it never feels exceptional. It's enjoyable and pleasant, but it never seems to strive beyond that. News Of The World is like a solid piece of journalism - it covers the details well, is informative, holds your interest and has no typos. But it's not in that special league of truly impressive investigations and clever features that change the way you think and leave an impression. 

Da 5 Bloods

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on February 19, 2021.

(MA15+) ★★★★

Director: Spike Lee.

Cast: Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Jonathan Majors, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Johnny Trí Nguyễn, Mélanie Thierry, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Pääkkönen, Chadwick Boseman, Jean Reno, Veronica Ngo, Lê Y Lan, Nguyễn Ngọc Lâm.

The men were disturbed by the "boom stick".

It goes without saying that Spike Lee is one of the most important directors in cinema, so when he drops a film, you have to pay attention. There are mis-steps in his career, yes - no one needed a remake of Old Boy - but when he's on form, he's on fire.

Da 5 Bloods is a powerful blend of his skills as educator and entertainer. It's not quite perfect - Lee overcooks things in places when less would do more - but overall it's an outstanding and beautifully realised film that manages to say something while being action-packed and surprising at the same time.

The story follows four African-American veterans who return to Vietnam, ostensibly to recover the body of their squad leader Stormin' Norman (Bosewick), but also to dig up millions of dollars worth of gold they stashed in the jungle during the war. 

Da 5 Bloods' racial overtones give it a power and a passion that elevate it above any cliched "soldiers' secret treasure" yarn - come for the shoot-outs, but stay for the discussions around civil rights. PTSD and mental health problems for veterans are also a major factor in the film, as is the legacy of "the American war", the treatment of black soldiers, and modern American politics.

While much has been made of Boseman's short yet integral cameo, which is definitely worthy of supporting actor nominations, the real focus should be on Lindo, who delivers the performance of his career as MAGA cap-wearing vet Paul. More so than his fellow veterans, Paul has been haunted by the war, and Lindo's turn ensures the character remains sympathetic from start to finish, despite visiting some weird and wild places in between.

He's ably supported by a great cast, particularly Peters, who brings stoicism and depth to the group's voice of reason Otis, and Majors as Paul's son David. But what's noteworthy is the way the film finds depth in each character. Almost every player has an evident arc and backstory, and is given a fleshed-out role in proceedings, sometimes at the expense of padding the film's length a tad much. 

Not that the film is excessively long (it's about two and a half hours), just that it feels long in places. Similarly, it makes its points well more often than not, but occasionally fumbles the delivery of things so they feel unreal against the film's grounded reality. Lee adds some artifice to his editing - hugs are seen twice from two angles, a bar conversation "crosses the line" of camera perspective - which is occasionally jarring. As is the score: Lee's use of Marvin Gaye songs is spot on, but the orchestral score is schmaltzy and distracting.

Less jarring is the use of the older actors playing themselves in the old battle footage without any make-up or trickery. It's a masterstroke actually - it's like these guys never left the war, like they were always there, or that the war made them who they are and that it turned them from boys into troubled men instantly. Whichever way you want to look at it, it's a brilliant piece of symbolism.

Lee is a bold director, and some of his tricks fall flat, but for the most part, they help make this punch hard. As usual, he's found a powerful story that needs telling, and delivers it with explosive intelligence... and actual explosives.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on February 5, 2021.

(M) ★★★★

Director: George C. Wolfe.

Cast: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts, Jonny Coyne, Taylour Paige, Jeremy Shamos, Dusan Brown.

"Eat plenty of lasagne, 'til you know that you've had your fill..." 

Chadwick Boseman's death was shocking, sad and tragic. Seeing his mesmerising performance in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom just makes it all the more gutwrenching. Here is a man at the peak of his powers, even as Death's icy grip was pulling him down.

Much like Heath Ledger's turn in The Dark Knight, expect Boseman to pick up a truckload of posthumous acting awards for his turn here. As firecracker trumpeter Levee, Boseman mixes swagger with frailty in this stagey but impressive look at black culture in the 1920s.

Telling a fictionalised account of a recording session, it follows real-life "Mother of the Blues" Ma Rainey (Davis) and her band as they set about laying down some tracks in a Chicago studio, circa 1927. While Ma strives for respect upstairs, downstairs in the band room her quartet rehearses. In between, there's a host of problems for everyone to grapple with, from the interpersonal to the societal.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is part of a suite of August Wilson plays producer Denzel Washington is bringing to the screen (he started this project with Fences in 2016). Wolfe does a great job as director, being faithful to the original play and its stage-bound nature while also making the film feel dynamic at the same time. He weaves his camera in between the protagonists, getting the most out of the limited settings.

In fact, there are moments when Wolfe doesn't need to weave quite so much, because in front of his camera he's capturing history. Davis gives an outstanding performance as Ma Rainey, disappearing behind the silver teeth and masses of eye make-up to portray the blues queen as a complex individual trying to progress her art with a level of acute self-awareness that makes for fascinating viewing. It's another outstanding performance from one of the best in the game.

But Boseman's last role is just as impressive; probably more so for what we know now. His trumpet-toting hothead is a bundle of energy at odds with the frail dying man that played him, making the performance all the more stunning. Boseman injects Levee with a haunted quality that underscores his humour, and seesaws him effortless from one emotion to the next.

He gets some top-notch support from the rest of the band - Turman, Domingo and Potts - and the film thrives on what this cast of characters has to say about black culture, racial oppression, and the way black artists of the time were treated. It's a powerful statement that's not overblown, despite being at the core of the film.

Wolfe's direction does justice to Wilson's work, but all this is somewhat overshadowed by the unfortunate moment of history that is passing before the camera - the final performance of the late great Chadwick Boseman, an actor who gave a lot of great performances in a short amount of time. This might just be his best of that too-small bunch.

The Trial Of The Chicago 7

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on February 5, 2021, and on ABC Central Victoria on February 15, 2021.

(M) ★★★★

Director: Aaron Sorkin.

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Rylance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Frank Langella, Jeremy Strong, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, John Carroll Lynch, Alex Sharp, Noah Robbins, Daniel Flaherty, Ben Shenkman, J. C. MacKenzie, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Michael Keaton.

The judges of The Voice were a bit different this year.

Aaron Sorkin has an uncanny ability to make the most mundane or complicated subject matter not only palatable but entertaining for a mainstream audience. Whether its the mathematics of baseball selections (Moneyball), the creation a social media platform (The Social Network), or just good old-fashioned politics (The West Wing), his dialogue-heavy scripts, more often than not, sing.

This courtroom saga yet again sees Sorkin in fine voice. Not only does the complex story fall onto the screen effortlessly, it also becomes oddly enjoyable to watch despite its at-times confronting subject matter. The whip-smart writing and top-shelf cast bubble with personality and bonhomie in spite of the significant subject matter, without breaking the overall tone of seriousness.

Based on real-life events, the film focuses on the titular trial, where the US government tried to bring conspiracy charges against a disparate group of protesters who played key roles in protests against the Vietnam War that took place in Chicago at the time of the 1968 Democratic Convention. In the line of fire was hippy "Yippies" Abbie Hoffman (Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Strong), middle-class anti-war protester David Dellinger (Lynch), and students Tom Hayden (Redmayne) and Rennie Davis (Sharp), with John Froines (Flaherty) and Lee Weiner (Robbins) making up the numbers. Also included is Black Panther national chairman Bobby Seale (Abdul-Mateen), for reasons that make no sense.

What transpires is one of the most corrupt and bizarre trials ever to grace an American courtroom. Sorkin even shies away from some of the crazier real-life moments, probably because audiences wouldn't believe they were real. 

It's fascinating viewing. After a barrelling seven-minute intro, the film slows its pace gradually but never enough to be dull. Sorkin keeps things moving, diving into harrowing flashbacks of the protest in between courtroom meltdowns and post-court soul searching.

The other hook, aside from Sorkin's great script and meticulous direction, is the cast. Packed with big names, each star shines. Langella is wonderful as the bastard at the bench, Judge Julius Hoffman - a doddering racist delivered perfectly by one of the all-time-great actors. Baron Cohen steals scenes, but Strong makes for a great sidekick. Redmayne, Levitt and Lynch are excellent, Keaton gets a memorable cameo, while Rylance's flawless American accent is part of another great performance from this low-key legend.

The real ace up Sorkin's sleeve is the timeliness of it all. Protests in the streets, cops as the aggressors, government corruption, a show trial - some things never got out of fashion in America, but this is all very "on topic".

Like any good "based on a true story" film, The Trail Of The Chicago 7 makes you want to learn more about its true story, yet it also feels like a solid reconstruction of events in a bite-size, entertaining package. Sorkin's script and his stellar cast make this one to watch come awards season.

Mank

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on January 29, 2021.

(M) ★★★★

Director: David Fincher.

Cast: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Charles Dance, Sam Troughton, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Burke, Joseph Cross, Jamie McShane.

"Here's to oversized novelty triangles."

Citizen Kane is the greatest movie of all time and the story behind its creation and its release is almost as rich as Gregg Toland's stunning cinematography, Orson Welles' masterful direction, and that sizzling screenplay. Many words have been spent untangling the mystery behind that legendary screenplay. Is it purely the work of Herman J Mankiewicz, or does a co-credited Welles deserve his share of the accolades for the Oscar-winning script?

David Fincher's first film since Gone Girl touches on this question but is more interested in figuring out why Mankiewicz (Oldman) wrote the script in the first place. As Mank recovers from a broken leg and tries to stay sober while penning Citizen Kane, we see in flashbacks the key moments that led him to write a screenplay that was a thinly veiled swipe at one of America's most powerful men and effectively ended Mank's career.

From a fine script penned by his late dad, the film ably showcases father-and-son's love of Citizen Kane. Fincher and cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt ape Toland's revolutionary deep focus and even mimic exact shots from the Welles' classic. They hint at easter eggs and revel in the era. The black-and-white aesthetic (apparently a studio sticking point that preventing the film being made 20 years earlier) is richly noirish in places and even gothic on occasion (not unlike Citizen Kane), and matched by some beautiful production design and costuming.

But the adoration of '30s and '40s Hollywood, with a sharp focus on Welles' masterpiece, blinkers the film somewhat. It's hard to see non-cinephiles being transfixed by this as a biopic if they have no interest in Citizen Kane and the machinations of Tinsel Town in that period. The tension is minimal, the obstacles are few, and the drama is insignificant.

This is even in spite of Oldman's fascinating performance as Mank. Disappearing into the role as he always does, he again confirms his reputation as one of the all-time greats, making Mank both the legendary wit and self-destructive sot he supposedly was.

A strong cast of side characters drift in and out (Seyfried leaves the biggest impression as Hearst's mistress Marion Davies) - perhaps too many, truth be told. Burke does a fine Orson Welles impersonation, Howard is good as studio head Louis B Mayer, and Collins is fine in support as Mank's secretary, but this is really Oldman's show. His star far outshines anyone else in his vicinity.

For those of us who love Citizen Kane as much as Fincher, Mank is a godsend. But the reality is there's little here for the casual passer-by beyond a finely crafted film with a great lead performance and sharp dialogue, but a story of little consequence and even less drama. This will be enough for the cineastes, so if that's you, enjoy.

Wonder Woman 1984

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on January 29, 2021 and ABC Central Victoria on February 1.

(M) ★★

Director: Patty Jenkins.

Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Lilly Aspell, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, Kristoffer Polaha, Amr Waked.

"Don't tell anyone, but I'm stealing this man."

Wonder Woman is far and away the best film of the DCEU. After the varying levels of disappointment that were Man Of Steel, Batman Vs Superman, and Suicide Squad, Gal Gadot rocked up in her Amazonian armour and kicked butt, literally and cinematically.

All that only makes this haphazard sequel all the more disheartening. After getting so much right first time around, WW84 has moments of good spectacle but fails to nail the heart or solid storytelling of the original. It labours its well-meaning themes, litters its trail with plot-holes and poor writing, and wastes its opportunities and cast.

Moving on from the WWI setting of the first film, the sequel finds Diana Prince (Gadot) in Washington DC circa 1984, where she works at the Smithsonian. Although trying to keep a low profile, she occasionally dons her Wonder Woman costume to not-so-quietly catch crooks and save the day.

These dual jobs bring her into contact with a magical MacGuffin with the ability to grant wishes. Soon shifty conman Maxwell Lord (Pascal) is on the scene, keen to use the "Dreamstone" to build his business empire and maybe take over the world in the process.

Wonder Woman 1984 has some fun with its '80s setting, invoking the films of the era in an opening shopping mall jewel heist, and throwing seemingly endless digs at the fashions of the time. The decade also plays into one of the themes - that greed, for lack of a better word, is bad.

But this is just one of the many themes threaded together to form an ugly, tattered theme-quilt that doesn't hold together. On top of "greed is bad" comes "love is good", "truth is good", "you have to earn stuff" and "be careful what you wish for" - all reasonable ideas, all dealt with poorly here. They come off as disappointing clichés either fitfully explored or painfully laboured.

Equally frustrating is the script's rule-bending and a bizarre willingness to seemingly make stuff up on the fly. Case in point: if you have a device that grants only one wish to everyone, then you can't change it to grant someone two wishes two-thirds of the way through. Similarly, if you have a character with lots of powers, including the ability to turn things invisible, you probably want to set that up, rather than just drop it into one pointless (but pretty) scene and then never use it again.

All this is a shame because Gadot is magnetic yet again in the lead role, perfectly balancing godliness and humanity, brains and brawn. She heads a superb cast, which only makes it all the more disappointing. Wiig is great at showcasing Barbara Ann Minerva's transformation, even if we do get a horribly fake scene where Wonder Woman tells us how funny and charming Barbara is, rather than the film just showing us how funny and charming Barbara is. 

Pascal is also excellent as Lord, one of DC Comics' many cool villains. He gives Lord a level of desperation that underscores his greed, and goes enjoyably over-the-top in places, even if his denouement feels forced.

There is some great spectacle here, although sometimes at the expense of the film's own sense of reason. The characters and cast are cool, but again they're not enough to drown out the bad writing. After such a stirring debut, it's pains me to say that Wonder Woman 1984 isn't that wonderful.