John Farnham: Finding The Voice

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio across regional Victoria on May 25, 2023.

(M) ★★★★★

Director: Poppy Stockell.

"Bring forth the mollusk, cast unto me...."

No matter how popular John Farnham got - and he got about as popular as you can get in Australia in the '80s - he always seemed to retain his humility and his humour. In a country renowned for cutting down its tall poppies, the best we could muster against Whispering Jack himself was to poke fun at how many farewell tours he did. And even when his music became old-fashioned and out-of-touch, hearing You're The Voice on the radio could still send tingles up your Southern Cross. We, as a nation, love John Farnham, and this doco reminds us why that love is such a worthwhile one.

Finding Your Voice gives us the story of John Farnham the Underdog - the popstar who had it and lost it before he even realised he had it, and who then had to claw his way back. It's the story of a singer who had to wait until he was almost 40 to finally take control of his career and make the record he really wanted to make, which in turn became a smash hit beyond all other smash hits in this country. 

But it's also a beautiful love story about two mates. Farnham's tale is impossible to tell without a significant amount of the spotlight also being shone on his best friend/manager Glenn Wheatley - the man who mortgaged his house so his friend could make that long-awaited career-defining record.

These stories are told in an unassuming fashion befitting an Aussie idol who never lost his working class roots. There is no pretence here - the doco walks us through his life some start to present. We get the early highs of Sadie and Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, followed by the crushing lows of the '70s and his stint with Little River Band.

Naturally the film peaks with You're The Voice and spends a lot of time with that song, positioning it as the triumphant comeback many people forget that it was. It means Farnham's career after that gets shorter shrift here, but that's ok - Stockell has structured Farnham's story beautifully for full dramatic impact.

We don't see present-day Farnham in the film - we only hear him - and coupled with its sad final moments makes the whole thing feel like an obituary. And that's ok - too often we don't fully appreciate our great talents until they're gone, so why not pay powerful tearful tribute while they're still around. 

For those of us who have forgotten the power, influence and place Farnham's music has had in our culture, Finding Your Voice is a timely reminder of his greatness, talent and his remarkable triumph. For everyone else, sit back and enjoy one of the great Aussie success stories, writ large on the big screen, as befits a man with a big voice.

89 songs that could make it into triple j's Like A Version Hottest 100

 According to The Music, there have been over 850 cover songs featured on triple j's Like A Version  (LAV) segment since it began in 2004. That's plenty of fodder for the upcoming LAV Hottest 100, which airs from noon AEST on Saturday, July 15.

So which cover is going to win? I'll probably do a deeper dive on the favourites closer to the date (voting opens Tuesday, May 23, and closes Monday, July, 10) but I just wanted to share this list of all the previous LAVs to make it into the Hottest 100... and the Hottest 200.

There have been 36 LAVs that have made it into the Hottest 100 in the past, and as far as public records show, a further 53 were voted between 101-200. Could the upcoming LAV Hottest 100 list look a little something like this (original positions for where these songs came are in brackets)?

1. Elephant - The Wiggles, 2021 (1)
2. Bulls on Parade - Denzel Curry, 2019 (5)
3. Believe - DMA's, 2016 (6)
4. Baby Come Back - Ocean Alley, 2018 (16)
5. I Touch Myself - Lime Cordiale, 2019 (17)
6. I Was Only 19 - The Herd, 2005 (18)
7. (Lover) You Don't Treat Me No Good - Chet Faker, 2014 (21)
8. Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again - Dune Rats, 2022 (23)
9. Pumped Up Kicks - Owl Eyes, 2011 (28)
10. Real Love - Regina Spektor, 2007 (29)
11. Here Comes the Sun - Spacey Jane, 2021 (30)
12. Shooting Stars - Flume ft. Toro y Moi, 2022 (30)
13. Get Lucky - San Cisco, 2013 (39)
14. Blood - Gang of Youths, 2017 (41)
15. Yellow - King Stingray, 2022 (43)
16. Dumb Things - A.B. Original ft Paul Kelly & Dan Sultan, 2016 (45)
17. Brother - Thundamentals, 2012 (49)
18. Love Yourself - Halsey, 2016 (52)
19. Do I Wanna Know? - Chvrches, 2014 (54)
20. Breathe / Comfortably Numb / Money - Ocean Alley, 2021 (54)
21. Keeping Score - Paces ft. Guy Sebastian, 2016 (56)
22. Ausmusic Month Medley - Illy, 2013 (66)
23. A Girl Like You - Tame Impala, 2021 (66)
24. Sweet Nothing - Something For Kate, 2013 (68)
25. Lonely Boy - Matt Corby, 2012 (69)
26. Such Great Heights - Ben Folds, 2006 (70)
27. What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out? - Nothing But Thieves, 2018 (72)
28. Electric Feel - Tash Sultana, 2017 (78)

29. Lady Marmalade - G Flip, 2020 (78)
30. Big Jet Plane - Tuka, 2015 (81)
31. Welcome to the Black Parade - Alex Lahey, 2019 (83)
32. Delete - Sticky Fingers, 2015 (84)
33. Edge of Town - Paul Dempsey, 2017 (88)
34. Here Comes Your Man - Skegss, 2019 (90)
35. Bridges - Meg Mac, 2014 (91)
36. Charlie - Bugs, 2020 (91)
37. Running Up That Hill - The Wombats, 2022 (103)
38. Time After Time - Triple One, 2021 (104)
39. Why Does It Always Rain On Me? - Gang Of Youths, 2022 (105)
40. So Into You - Childish Gambino, 2015 (108)
41. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Art Vs Science, 2011 (114)
42. My Happiness - Ball Park Music, 2017 (114)
43. Romeo And Juliet - Lisa Mitchell, 2009 (116)
44. Life On Mars? - Sarah Blasko, 2016 (118)
45. When The Party's Over - Cub Sport, 2019 (118)
46. How To Make Gravy - Luca Brasi, 2016 (127)
47. Big Yellow Taxi - Allday, 2019 (130)
48. Hey Ya! - Sarah Blasko, 2010 (131)
49. Two Weeks - #1 Dads ft. Tom Snowdon, 2015 (131)
50. That Don't Impress Me Much - HAIM, 2017 (131)
51. Catch My Disease - The Terrys, 2022 (132)
52. My Boo - Flume ft. Vince Staples & KUČKA, 2017 (133)
53. Let It Happen - Meg Mac, 2017 (138)
54. Sex From The Bong - Something With Numbers, 2009 (139)
55. Hearts A Mess - Missy Higgins, 2012 (139)
56. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Andy Bull, 2011 (141)
57. Happy - The John Butler Trio, 2014 (141)
58. Crave You - Elk Road ft. Lisa Mitchell, 2016 (142)
59. Say My Name - Glass Animals, 2022 (142)
60. Under Pressure - Ben Harper & Relentless 7, 2009 (149)
61. I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Yungblud ft. Halsey, 2019 (151)
62. Hey Now - Karnivool, 2014 (152)
63. Ultralight Beam - Cub Sport, 2016 (152)
64. Girls Just Want To Have Fun - Busby Marou, 2011 (155)
65. Kids - The Kooks, 2008 (161)
66. Chains - Matt Corby, 2016 (161)
67. Forever Young - Tones & I, 2020 (164)
68. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards - Alex Turner, 2014 (165)
69. The Special Two - Dear Seattle, 2019 (165)
70. Black Fingernails, Red Wine - Polaris, 2020 (165)
71. Stolen Dance - Ásgeir, 2014 (167)
72. Not Many - One Day, 2015 (167)
73. Hey, Ma - The Vanns, 2020 (168)
74. Pony - Abbe May, 2013 (169)
75. West Coast - James Vincent McMorrow, 2014 (170)
76. It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over - Ruel, 2021 (170)
77. Seventeen Going Under - Camp Cope, 2022 (174)

78. Video Games - Bluejuice, 2012 (176)
79. Never Tear Us Apart - Allday, 2014 (176)
80. No Surprises - Regina Spektor, 2010 (178)
81. Breathe Life - Vera Blue, 2016 (179)
82. I Try - Hockey Dad ft. Hatchie, 2019 (182)
83. Changes - JK-47, 2021 (188)
84. Don't You Forget About Me - Boy & Bear, 2021 (189)
85. Better In Blak - Beddy Rays, 2021 (190)
86. Read My Mind - Catfish And The Bottlemen, 2015 (192)
87. Runaway - Plan B, 2011 (193)
88. Sunny Afternoon - The Cat Empire, 2009 (194)
89. Song 2 - Baker Boy, 2022 (200)

Guardians Of The Galaxy: Volume 3 (no spoilers)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio across regional Victoria on May 11, 2023.

(M) ★★★★

Director: James Gunn.

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki, Maria Bakalova, Sylvester Stallone.

The Wiggles In Space was surprisingly trippy.

Characters. Get them right, and you're more than halfway towards making a great movie. When we understand who they are, what they want, and what they stand for, it raises the stakes, and, to quote a legendary Faith No More song used in Guardians Of The Galaxy: Volume 3, we care a lot. When we see them grow, learn, fall down, and get back up again, we care even more.

It's why Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania misfired - no character arcs or development or depth. But it's why the first Guardians Of The Galaxy film worked so well. We cared about the weird tree with the three-word vocabulary, the trigger-happy space raccoon, and the rest of the motley crew of intergalactic heroes, because we got to know them and understand them and watch them grow. We came to care about them.

This is thanks to James Gunn, who bows out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in style with Guardians Of The Galaxy: Volume 3. The same level of attention and affection he put into the ragtag band of weirdos in the first two Guardians films (and the superb Holiday Special) is here again in Volume 3. It's full of everything that made the first one great - heart, humour, spectacle, and characters to care about.

This trilogy wrap-up centres on Rocket Raccoon (voiced to perfection by Cooper), exploring where he came from via a series of flashbacks interspersed The Godfather Part 2-style between his friends' quest to save his life. Meanwhile Star Lord AKA erstwhile Earthling Peter Quill (Pratt) is torn up over Rocket's condition and the fact his former girlfriend Gamora (Saldana) no longer knows who he is because she's a different version from an alternate timeline (quick, go and watch Endgame).

Volume 3 is a great response to the all-to-real phenomenon of "superhero fatigue". It's a quality story based around quality characters. It's script is by turns heartfelt and ridiculous. There are great visuals and some epic sequences, including a single-take fight in a corridor that is pretty mindblowing. It's soundtrack is out-of-this-world. Superheroes or no, it's just a damned good film. How can you be fatigued about superhero movies when they're this good?

The cast is mostly returning favourites, slipping back into their old roles like a pair of slippers. Pratt is ever-reliable, Bautista has made Drax one of the funniest characters in the MCU, Gillan has helped transform Nebula from C-villain to fan favourite, Klementieff perfectly fits the vibe of the film as Mantis, and Saldana gets to really cut loose for the first time as Gamora.

The newcomer is Iwuji, who is fantastic as villain High Evolutionary. Taking every opportunity to rage-spit when required, he makes the role memorable and entertaining. He's a great mix of cerebral and evil, with credit again to Gunn for making such a strange villain work in this universe. 

Gunn is firing on all cylinders again here. He's made a trilogy that ends as it starts - with great characters telling a great story, all with a song in its heart.

Air (2023)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio across regional Victoria on April 27, 2023.

(M) ★★★★

Director: Ben Affleck.

Cast: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, Viola Davis, Matthew Maher, Julius Tennon.

"It looks blue now, but get it away from these blue lights and... it's still blue."

Air answers two very important questions: "Can you make an entire film about a shoe?" and "Can you make a film about Michael Jordan without really having Michael Jordan in it?".

In the hands of director Affleck, the answer is a resounding "yes" to both questions. So the next round of questions becomes "Why make an entire film about a shoe?" and "Why make a film about Michael Jordan without really having Michael Jordan in it?".

To put it simply, the shoe in question is more than just a shoe. Not since Cinderella has a shoe played a more pivotal role in something. This is a shoe that made the '80s - it changed an industry, shaped a sport, warped popular culture, and helped make a man into an icon before he became a legend.

Air is the story of Nike's efforts to court and sign then-NBA rookie Michael Jordan. While you can file this in the "I Know How It Ends" basket alongside Titanic, this Moneyball-like drama milks every ounce of tension, humour and pathos out of its tale of The Little Shoe Company That Could.

Affleck takes Jordan out of this film as much as possible to focus on everyone else who helped create the must-have fashion accessory of the '80s. While it could be distracting, it's a smart directorial choice, helping keep Damon's basketball guru Sonny Vaccaro front and centre, while also subtly playing into the mythic nature of His Airness.

Damon's great as the unlikely hero, and well supported by his buddy Affleck, Bateman, the rarely seen Tucker, a sweary Messina, and a scene-stealing Davis as the quietly spoken Mrs Deloris Jordan. The cast can't be faulted, even if their characters are sketched thin. It's tempting to remark "it's just a shoe" repeatedly throughout the film, but that's because the protagonists' motivations are somewhat obscure and the stakes seem sadly low. Are they doing this because it's their job? It's not like Nike will go under if they don't sign Jordan and make a shoe for him - it's just that history will be different.

Yet the script keeps your interest, dragging you along to the inevitable. Because in the end it's about history - it's about a weird moment in our popular culture where a group of oddly dedicated men chased a dream and re-shaped our reality. And that's Air - it's about the inevitability of history and making dreams reality. Jordan was always going to be a phenomenon, and a sport star was always going to transcend their sport in a way that altered pop culture. Air celebrates the team who were smart enough to see history's wave before it broke, and then surfed it all the way to the bank.

A bangin' '80s soundtrack and some somewhat gratuitous prop placement ("Hey look it's that game/cereal/ad from the '80s") help sell the vibe of it all. And that vibe is about fun. If there are two things that the '80s were really all about, it was having a good time and making a metric fuckton of money. In that sense, Air is the perfect '80s movie.

Inspired by The Last Dance, Air serves as a perfect entrée to that acclaimed Netflix doco series. But best of all, Affleck has done a Moneyball/The Big Short; he's taken something esoteric and niche and made it enjoyable light entertainment for the world at large. 

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio across regional Victoria on April 13, 2023.

(PG) ★★★

Director: Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic.

Cast: (voices of) Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Sebastian Maniscalco, Kevin Michael Richardson, Charles Martinet.

Tripping. Fucking. Balls.

Let's get the voice thing out of the way. If you want to get pissed off about this movie purely because Chris Pratt doesn't sound like Mario from the games ie. a bad Italian stereotype, then I guess it's your right to get pissed off about stupid shit. 

The film actually addresses the voice thing with some amount of wit and reverence at the start of the film by including the voice, and cameoing OG Mario voice actor Charles Martinet (who's American of French descent by the way) in not one, but two roles. You could argue about why didn't they a) hire an Italian or b) get Pratt to do "the Mario voice" for the whole movie, but seriously who gives a shit? What matters is whether the movie is any good or not.

So if you're gonna get pissed off about Pratt and the voice, fill your boots. There are plenty of legitimate things for you to be annoyed about in this film. Or you could take heart in the fact this is a fairly decent Mario movie that admires and celebrates its source material (including the voice in it's own way), and is kinda fun.

As you'd hope, the movie is the story of two down-on-their luck Brooklyn plumbers, Mario (Pratt) and Luigi (Day), who find themselves accidentally whisked away to mystical lands. Luigi ends up in the Dark Lands captured by the evil Bowser (Black), who is set on marrying Princess Peach (Taylor-Joy) so he take over the Mushroom Kingdom. Meanwhile Mario ends up in the Mushroom King and teams up with Peach to try to save Luigi and the world.

"Predictable" is the key word for this film, but that's not always a bad thing. It's predictable that the film would be a wishlist of stuff from the history of the Mario games - the characters, the villain, the music, the item boxes, the warp pipes; it's all here. And that's great. It's fan service, but it's to be expected, and it kinda works.

The story that is used to weld all these Easter eggs together is equally predictable, bordering on lazy in places, but again, not in a totally bad way. The film does the acceptable bare minimum in terms of its hero's journey and keeping the plot movie in a compelling way. Is it amazing and will it have you hanging on the edge of your seat? Absolutely not. Does it have power-up item boxes scattered throughout for reasons that don't make logical sense? You betcha. So, you know, fan service, but stretched to try and make the movie work.

In fact, the most obvious way to demonstrate how predictable and safe this film is can be found in the musical choices. Are there any more over-used songs in movies (especially family movies) than Can I Kick It?, No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn, Holding Out For A Hero, Mr Blue Sky, Thunderstruck, Take On Me, and Battle Without Honour Or Humanity?

But hey - it's ok for kids movies to be predictable and safe with 2D characters in a 3D world, I guess. Is this going to blow you away like a Pixar film or The Mitchells Vs The Machines (which also uses Battle Without Honour Or Humanity, yes I know) or Into The Spiderverse? No.

But it's bright and loud and shiny and fun in the way a lot of middle-of-the-road family animated movies are these days. It also happens to have the added cache of being recognisable to millions of people of all ages who will be stoked at the references, especially the musical ones (shout-out for the DK Rap getting a guernsey). 

The Super Mario Bros. Movie treats its source material with respect, and has fun while doing it. And that's more than a lot of other video game movies.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio across regional Victoria on April 13, 2023.

(M) ★★★

Director: Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley.

Cast: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Regé-Jean Page, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head, Jason Wong.

"Thunderdome? Why do they call it a 'thunderdome'?"

I love D&D. I currently have a level 15 bard/fighter lost in Undermountain, and a level eight halfling cleric deep in the jungles of Chult. This is a very nerdy way of saying I feel uniquely placed among film reviewers to critique this movie.

Firstly, if you're a fellow roleplayer who knows their Waterdeep from their Baldur's Gate, add another star to that rating above. For the rest of the world, be satisfied that this is some solid three-star fun that is a welcome big-budget addition to the genre of cinematic fantasy.

Secondly, what Honour Among Thieves does right is give D&D fans not what they want, but what they need. They want a film that abides by the nitty-gritty of the rules of the game, references certain adventure paths, namedrops certain characters and cities, and features cameos from particular podcasts.

But what they need is a proper movie, with relatable characters facing high stakes in a lived-in world, and who undertake an inner journey of growth as they dungeon-crawl their way to the MacGuffin.

The film does most of that. The characters could be sketched a bit more thoroughly, but D&D: Honour Among Thieves is generally great entertainment. It won't test your brain, but it certainly does the Dungeons & Dragons brand no harm (unlike previous films).

Like all good D&D games, the film centres on an adventuring party - a charming bard (Pine), his barbarian bestie (Rodriguez), an accident-prone sorcerer (Smith), and a tiefling druid (Lillis) - taking part in a mythic quest. Each has their own reasons for joining, but the future of the realm is also at stake.

The film's biggest strength is its cast. Pine and Rodriguez are a fine pairing, while Grant's recent diversion into playing charismatic blowhard baddies (see also Paddington 2) is employed to great effect again here. Smith and Page are also excellent in memorable roles, while Lillis does okay in the most underwritten role in the film.

However, there's a kind of "but" with a lot of the film. The writing is fine, but the group dialogue never quite zings like, say, a Guardians Of The Galaxy. The pacing is dextrous, but it lacks a strong thematic core. And as good as Grant is, the other big bad is largely forgettable. It's like when the little old shopkeeper in your campaign offers you a magical item - there's always a catch.

But by and large, this is a fun adventure. It treats its source material with reverence while also having a laugh with it, and it keeps its eyes on the prize without worrying about planning the next campaign.

Hardcore fans will have their gripes (mine is that the bard has no powers, but at least they didn't make him a horny meme). However the fact this is joyful, re-watchable fun should warm the hearts of roleplayers who have had to settle with sub-par straight-to-DVD abominations in the past. The story, its machinations, and its characters have the vibe of those concocted at tables around the world and the big budget sequences are what we all have imagined, except writ large on the big screen.

The only real disappointment - that there's no meta-end credits sequence revealing four players and a DM sitting around a table rolling dice, having played out the whole movie. 

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio across regional Victoria on March 30, 2023.

(M) ★★★★

Director: Guillermo del Toro.

Cast: (voices of) Gregory Mann, David Bradley, Ewan McGregor, Christoph Waltz, Ron Perlman, Burn Gorman, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro.

"Sign this, and Netflix owns your soul."

The Wall Street Journal says there are over 50 adaptions of Carlo Collodi's 1883 serial The Adventures of Pinocchio. There a version where Pinocchio goes into space. There's Roberto Benigni's ill-fated take where the boy-puppet is played by the then-50-year-old Benigni. There's even a porn version (hint: it's not his nose that grows).

By and large the original story, which is dark and strange, has proven eminently adaptable due to its core moral of "be good and you will be rewarded". It's a simple karmic idea with a hint of magic and fantasy that works in a range of settings, including war-time Italy, such as in this masterfully animated take from iconic director Guillermo del Toro. 

Just as Disney's acclaimed 1940 version cherry-picks from Collodi's story, so too does del Toro's. Pinocchio (voiced by Mann) is crafted by Geppetto (Bradley) after the woodworker's son Carlo was killed in a WWII bombing raid. Initially bad-behaved and ill-mannered, Pinocchio runs away to a circus to make money for Geppetto and no longer be a "burden" on the old man. But Geppetto, who is joined by raconteur insect Sebastian J Cricket (McGregor), is desperate to find Pinocchio and bring him home. 

It's hard to think of a director better suited to working in the world of stop-motion animation than del Toro. Even his lesser films such as Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak are visually stylish, but working in the stop-and-go minutiae of this kind of process seems to give the Mexican director the perfect opportunity to paint masterpieces on the screen. The models and sets put together by his team are works of art themselves. And in the service of this intriguing story, with exquisite lighting and great voice performances, it's top-shelf stuff.

The source material is also well suited to del Toro. His passion for a war-time backdrop (see also The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth) works well, but it's the strangeness of the original material that is most fitting. He revels in the darkness of the story and takes it to odd new places, including a fascist boys camp with a cameo from Mussolini. 

One thing it falters with is the moral at the heart of Collodi's tale. While Walt Disney's classic gave us Jiminy Cricket as Pinocchio's conscience, del Toro's version separates puppet from cricket, leaving the morality lesson to be a little foggier and ill-defined. It becomes more of a series of unfortunate events, as opposed to an inner journey to goodness, but is no less entrancing for this - just perhaps less impactful.

We reached peak Pinocchio last year, with three new versions released. This is the only one to bother watching. It's a wonderful take on an old story, with a hint of darkness, and some truly masterful animation.