Author: Natalie Teasdale

I want to share with other movie fans those amazing films that get under your skin and stay with you for days: the scary ones, the funny ones; the ones that get you thinking. With a background in creative writing, photography, psychology and neuroscience, I’ll be focusing on dialogue, what makes a great story, if the film has beautiful creative cinematography, the soundtrack and any movie that successfully scratches the surface of our existence. My aim is to always be searching for that ultimate movie, to share what I’ve found to be interesting (whether it be a great soundtrack, a great director or links to other information of interest) and to give an honest review without too much fluff. BAppSci in Psychology/Psychophysiology; Grad Dip Creative Arts and Post Grad Dip in Creative Writing. Founder of GoMovieReviews.

The Wild Robot

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.2/5)

Rated: PG

Written and Directed by: Chris Sanders

Based on: ‘The Wild Robot’ Novel by Peter Brown

Produced by: Jeff Hermann

Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Kit Connor and Stephanie Hsu, with Mark Hamill, Matt Berry and Ving Rhames.

‘Funny how life works.’

Opening on a dark and stormy beach, otters sniffing the sand discover a crashed robot.

Meet, ready-to-receive-my-first-task ROZZUM unit 7134 (Lupita Nyong’o).

A ROZZUM AKA Roz always completes its task, just ask.

The Wild Robot analyses life through the lens of a robot’s eyes that has all sorts of fun and weird and wonderful moments including physical mimicry of Roz running around trying to find instruction from a bunch of wild beasts that are terrified of it.

Eventually, Roz the robot saves a goose egg from a conniving fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal). And watching the egg hatch, as nature instructs, the gosling imprints on the robot.

Roz, now has a task (along with the help of Fink): to raise a gosling, later named Brightbill (Kit Connor), so he’s ready to migrate before winter sets in.

There’s so much to love about this movie, the critters all adorable, not one character out of place.

There’s the family of possums where all the young possums are taught to play dead (well, possum), each explaining the type of death therefore undoing the subterfuge because, ‘dead things don’t have to explain they’re dead.’

When I saw the premise of the film I thought it was a strange idea having a robot in the forest and at best would be cheesy, but the story leans into the pre-programmed robot that can’t feel anything contrasted with the wildlife that are in constant fear of being eaten.

The film doesn’t shy away from the reality of nature, instinct a different type of programming designed to keep animals fed or to flee to stay alive.

Afterall, ‘Death’s proximity makes life burn all the more brighter.’

Then there’s Brightbill that adopts Roz as his mother, snuggling up to the unfeeling metal, that brightens pink lights as a mechanical response to love.

It’s sweet seeing this robot become an unlikely mother with all the difficulty that goes with the ‘crushing obligation.’

There’s a real, flying the nest storyline that plucks the heartstrings but then there’s so much more to the story as Roz shows the forest creatures that kindness is a survival skill.

And that overriding programming can ultimately lead to a better survival.

This is a genuinely funny and heartwarming film that’s good fun for all ages.

The Substance

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2

Rated: R18+

Directed by: Coralie Fargeat

Written by: Coralie Fargeat

Edited by: Coralie Fargeat

Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid.

‘Pretty girls should always smile.’

A film of extremes, The Substance is a commentary about Hollywood’s middle-aged, white male’s view of the female form.

There is a male version of, the Other: a beautiful young male doctor introduces an aging fitness guru, Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) to The Substance, himself a demonstration to the Oscar winning actress that she can create a better version of herself.

‘It will change your life.’

Goes to show that men are feeling the push to be beautiful as well. But here the focus is on the aging actress, Elizabeth.

The action of ‘the substance’ is shown by the injection of green liquid into the joke of a raw egg. The yoke then pushes out another yoke, like a clone of itself.

And the film continues with this demonstrative view of the procedure, of the process of aging, to the birth of a young body; the splicing of a pupil into two, to another eye growing within another, all shown in macro, close so there’s no-where else to look but at the unfiltered image of the beautiful juxtaposed with the grotesque.

Director and writer, Coralie Fargeat states, ‘Bodies here are going to be tyrannized, ridiculed, destroyed, the same way I truly believe society destroys women with all the rules that we are silently taught to follow.’

‘Women’s bodies. THE SUBSTANCE is a film about women’s bodies.’

After Elizabeth Sparkle is told by Harvey (Denis Quaid) – while feeding his face with prawns, sound included- the producer of her fitness show, that at age 50, It Stops, Elizabeth can’t help but think a better version of herself could be the answer to her lack of self-worth.

Elizabeth is the Matrix, the Other is Sue.

They are one person.

This is a visceral birth, with close-ups of blood, injections, the splitting of the spine to the gush of another pushing outwards from Elizabeth’s lifeless body.

To the high impact beauty of the Other, Sue.

It’s all pink shiny leotards and perfect bodies – Sue becomes the fresh new face of fitness. She’s new and she’s young and she’s perfect.

It takes 7 days for Sue to rule the world. And as human nature dictates, Sue wants more.

The concepts of the film are portrayed with clever devices, aging is shown with a static view of Sparkles Hollywood Star cracking in the pavement over time. Of people walking across the star, admiring the star, to then show snow and rain and dirt and feet and food being spilled across her star. Like time has forgotten her face. To the giant image of Elizabeth in her apartment with the fractured glass around her eye – a loss of perspective, her self-hatred pinned up on the wall.

It’s an interesting title, The Substance, the focus on the outer beauty and social comment about aging, about what’s supposed to go where, replacing the true substance of a person with a chemical that births a younger, fresher you. Makes me wonder about Picasso’s cubism and his deconstruction of perspective.

Coralie Fargeat takes apart the idea of beauty and creates a satire with Elizabeth Sparkle using the mantra, ‘Take care of yourself,’ that Sue imitates with a wink because what is taking care of yourself when the expectation is to have medical procedures to try to stay young forever?

Fargeat comments, ‘This movie is going to be bloody gory. And it’s going to be bloody funny at the same time. Because I don’t know any stronger weapon than satire to show the world the absurdity of its own rules. And most importantly: I believe it’s going to be bloody timely. This is what this movie is about in the end. A liberation. An empowerment.’

Throughout the film, there’s an evolution of the grotesque as the weight of society’s expectation is perverted into an embrace of the gross with too much enthusiasm for my taste, to turn a fascinating film with a difference into something so awful it’s laughable.

This is a unique, determined and grotesque film.

This is body horror people. Prepare yourself.

Kid Snow

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Paul Goldman

Written by: John Brumpton

Produced by: Lizzette Atkins, Bruno Charlesworth, Megan Wynn

Executive Producers: Matthew Gledhill, Gary Cooper

Starring: Billy Howle, Phoebe Tonkin, Tom Bateman, Mark Coles Smith, Hunter Page-Lochard, Shaka Cook, Jack Latorre, Nathan Phillips, Tasma Walton, John Brumpton, Robert Taylor, Tristan Gorey.

‘Relax. You’ll get your story.’

Robed, Kid Snow (Billy Howle) and Hammer (Tristan Gorey) shadow box in warm-up before fighting in a competition that ultimately leads to Hammer’s reign as champion.

Cameras flash.

A leggy blond holds a placard, ‘Round 1.’

It’s 1961.

And Kid Snow’s about to throw the fight.

Kid Snow throws the fight to give his brother Rory (Tom Bateman) a chance to get to the top.

It’s family. Their father (John Brumpton) thinks Rory has a better chance but it’s obvious to those watching the fight that Kid Snow could have beaten Hammer and Hammer knows it.

After disaster strikes, leaving Rory maimed and their father dead, the film jumps forward 10 years, showing the two Irish brothers in outback Australia; Rory managing a travelling Tent Fighting show, featuring Kid Snow along with indigenous fighters: Lovely (Mark Coles Smith), Lizard (Hunter Page-Lochard), Armless (Shaka Cook). And dressed up as a woman, Billy (Nathan Phillips) – the idea to goad the spectators into taking on the travelling fighters to win money and of course, boasting rights.

It’s a living. A show that now Australian reigning champion Hammer wants to see because he knows Kid Snow thinks he could have taken him all those years ago. Now he’s champion, Hammer wants to prove he deserves to be champion.

It’s a showdown a reporter, Ed (Robert Taylor) has come to write about – reigning champion versus comeback tent fighter.

At its heart, the film is an underdog story. Kid Snow taking the fall for his brother, left fighting ‘mugs’ for a living, and introducing Sunny (Pheobe Tonkin) arriving at the show with a black eye and pickpocketing, trying to make her way for her son, Darcy (Jack LaTorre).

Director Paul Goldman states:

‘Our three leads, Billy Howle (Kid Snow), Tom Bateman (Rory Quinn) and Phoebe Tonkin (Sunny), are the beating heart of this film. Each of them brave and compelling in their commitment to diving deeper into their characters and the complex relationships and emotions that resonate through this story.’

There’s the drama of the two brothers’ relationship; the elder brother Rory maimed and bitter, Kid Snow still nursing his pride after throwing the fight that could have made him.

Then there’s Sunny; Rory blackmailing her into working for the show, offering her a chance to make money as a dancer.

Then there’s the blossoming romance between Sunny and Kid Snow as Rory watches from the sidelines.

And as noted by Goldman, this is a unique film about Tent Boxing, ‘A world that, strangely, has never before been brought to the screen.’

There’s a good steady build to the story, written by John Brumpton whom represented Australia in amateur boxing in Thailand and decided to get some work for himself alongside his acting career as a scriptwriter, creating a script with himself as the protagonist.

The actors performed their own stunts which shows on screen, the feeling authentic which brings to light the attention to detail, the knowing look from Sunny, the honesty of Kid Snow. There’s a good rounding-out of characters that pulls the audience behind the characters, to cheer for the underdog, Kid Snow while also gaining insight into the relationship between the two brothers.

The film does take a beat to warm up, the acting stilted until the fast forward 10 years and the introduction of Sunny. Then the characters relax into their roles as the relationship between Sunny and Kid Snow develops and the comradery of the follow fighters plays more of a part as Kid Snow prepares for the challenge of boxing against a professional fighter rather than the mugs in the tent.

There’s a good storyline here, and a strong performance from Billy Howle, so although there’s that stilted start, the film keeps building to ultimately cheer the underdog story at its end.

Worth a watch.

Speak No Evil

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2

Rated: MA15+

Written for the Screen and Directed by: James Watkins

Based on the Screenplay by: Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup

Produced by: Jason Blum, Paul Ritchie

Executive Producers: Beatriz Sequeira, Jacob Jarek, Christian Tafdrup

Starring: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Alix West and Dan Hough.

‘I promise you guys, it’s going to be a great weekend.’

You know when you’re in a bad situation and you want to get out. Do get out. Only to be pulled back in against your better judgment? But someone continually plays you, pulls those strings so you get burnt, played, burnt again.

Based on the screenplay of Gæsterne, written by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup, Speak No Evil shows the game, the cat playing with the mouse.

Meet Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben Dalton (Scoot McNairy) with their daughter, Agnes (Alix West).

Ben is newly redundant and a little bored. Louise fusses over their anxious daughter, Agnes, ‘Use your indoor voice.’

Then there’s Paddy (James McAvoy) cracking beers and getting it on with his young wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi). Paddy’s forward and fun.

Ciara is lovely and they have a child who’s also awkward, a son, Ant (Dan Hough), who doesn’t speak because of a condition dwarfing his tongue.

The two families get along.

Paddy is a breath of fresh air so after Louise and Ben get home to London and disappointment, they decide it’s not such a bad idea to go to the Western Country to visit their good-time new friends.

The opening scene sets up the film well: a car being driven along a dark isolated road. The reflection of a child’s face seen in the rearview mirror. The adults get out of the car, leaving the child, his reflection watching.

It’s that ominous feeling of knowing something isn’t right that continues through-out the film. The tension keeps building. But the pacing gets annoying after a while.

It’s a gradual change as Paddy’s mask begins to slip, the sly comments, ‘Don’t put yourself down, that’s my job.’

The more off-colour Paddy becomes, the more precious Louise seems so Ben doesn’t know if they should just relax and get along or get out of there.

It’s a back and forth where the subtle becomes not so subtle to then lean into the unhinged to become so crazy it’s funny. On purpose.

McAvoy steals the show as the charismatic, unhinged Paddy.

Paddy takes control through his constant manipulation, his presence claustrophobic, to the extent scenes felt empty without him.

But it’s frustrating to watch, that back and forth. I couldn’t help but groan when the family continued to get sucked in again and again.

It’s a well-made film. I just got annoyed with it.

Longlegs

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.8/5)

Rated: MA15+

Written and Directed by: Osgood Perkins

Produced by: Dave Caplan, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Oddfellows, Dan Kagan

Director of Photography: Adrés Arochi

Starring: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood, Alica Witt, Kiernan Shipka.

‘You’re a dirty sweet girl. You’re my girl.’

T. Rex 1971.

Longlegs is one of the creepier serial killer movies I’ve seen.

The film is created with odd camera angles, the texture of the film, stark.

There’s a quiet tone to the film as FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) makes her way through the case of a satanic serial killer, AKA Longlegs (Nicolas Cage): a killer who doesn’t leave a trace.

The only reason the FBI know about Longlegs is because he leaves a note. A cipher.

Agent Harker is able to decipher the notes because Longlegs breaks into her house and leaves her the solution to the code.

And then the dance between Longlegs and Harker begins.

The toneless affect of Harker blankets the film in a monotone, making the feeling flat. It’s a strange device but I get the connection to the life-sized dolls that are introduced later in the film; however, the dampening of Harker made her character borderline dull.

Aside from the flat affect, this is a carefully crafted film with thought put into the build, the montages of crime scene photos, the sometimes up-side-down perspective, the quiet then screech of strings, all to build that unnerving feeling.

Then add Nicolas Cage as Longlegs spouting the bizarre while looking directly into the camera so it’s like Longlegs is speaking directly to you as you watch the movie and you get one unique film that gets under your skin because it takes risks in the storytelling.

On rare occasions when a film has a particular poetic flavour, I’ll re-read my notes and take that as a synopsis:

A corner camera angle, looking through the front windscreen and side window of a car.

A snowy forest.

A little girl watches from her bedroom window.

Just the lower half of the face, a weirdly made-up face, a powdered face. A male’s high voice.

Strings screech.

Knock, knock.

Have you seen this man?

She’s quiet – he’s in there.

Half psychic.

Ciphers – ten families.

Making the father murder.

Like a tapping on the shoulder.

Highly intuitive.

14^th: happy birthday.

911 call.

Flashes of crime scene photos.

Boiling black ink that overflows.

All your things.

Not nice things.

Our prayers protect us from the devil.

Newspaper clippings.

A life-sized doll.

A nowhere between here and there.

The man down the stairs.

From the perspective of the doll.

Looks right down the camera.

Birthday girls.

The doll maker.

You’ve won.

Happy birthday.

Creepy.

The Bikeriders

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★

Rated: M

Written and Directed by: Jeff Nichols

Inspired by the Book, ‘The Bikeriders’ by, Danny Lyon

Produced by: Sarah Green, p.g.a, Brian Kavanaugh Jones, p.g.a, Arnon Milchan

Starring: Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman, Beau Knapp, Emory Cohen, Karl Glusman, Toby Wallace.

‘You are an undesirable.’

Based on the book written by Danny Lyon, The Bikeriders follows the motorcycle club, The Vandals, from their formation as a racing club in 1965 to 1975 when journalist Lyon revisits Kathy (Jodie Comer), wife to club member Benny (Austin Butler), to find out what happened to the club members.

Kathy narrates the story as Danny (Mike Faist) records and takes photos of the members, president Johnny (Tom Hardy), Kathy’s husband, Benny (Austin Butler) and not-sure-where-he-come-from-but-he’s-always-been-there Zipco (Michael Shannon), sounds nasty but is actually a softy, Cockroach (Emory Cohen) and others like, Cal (Boyd Holbrook), Brucie (Damon Herriman) and Wahoo (Beau Knapp).

The Bikeriders is a story about how the club was created, the president Johnny inspired by the movie The Wild One.

Johnny has a normal life, a wife and two kids, a job driving trucks. But the club is about being an outsider to finding somewhere to belong when you don’t belong anywhere else like Zipco being told he’s an undesirable when trying to join the army to fight in Vietnam. But with The Vandals, Zipco’s a club member.

Kathy talks about the guys joining the club because they can’t follow rules, but then the new members taking the rules of the club too seriously.

Later Kathy talks about outsiders not able to wear their colours alone because of the threat of someone with a grievance finding them without the backup of their members.

But not Benny.

The film opens showing a whisky with a chaser beer, cigarette set on an ashtray billowing smoke as Benny leans forward on a bar.

‘You can’t wear those colours in here. Take that jacket off.’

To which Benny replies, ‘You’d have to kill me to get this jacket off.’

Benny’s the free spirit of the club, slightly unhinged he tells Johnny, ‘What do I need to think for?’

He doesn’t care about anything. Doesn’t want anything from anyone.

Kathy wonders after the constant arrests, bail and court cases, ‘It can’t be love, it must just be stupidity.’

Benny dives into a fight where the two fighting clubs end up being palls, talking motorbikes after some fisty cuffs. But this isn’t an overly violent film. There’s a 60s vibe with matching soundtrack that plays more to boys being boys.

But as the club expands, the new members start to twist the ideals of being an outlaw to the extreme.

Nichols states, ‘Mainstream culture doesn’t suit everyone,’ he says. ‘Some outsiders are drawn to subcultures and that’s where interesting things happen. Subcultures are where new art comes from. Subcultures are where people can find interesting ways to express themselves. And inevitably those subcultures become interesting to the main culture. They are absorbed by the mainstream and become shadows of themselves.’

The film touches on the outsiders joining a club because everyone wants to be part of something. And there is a brotherhood of the members backing each other, Johnny wanting more from Benny, to step up in running the club but because of Benny’s independence, the relationship falls flat.

There’s no deep dive into the loyalty of the club, friendships, just a superficial like of drinking together and hanging out until it gets too real.

Really, the film is about Kathy and Benny, with Kathy telling the story, her narration flippant, the brevity amusing.

Instead of the expected film about hardened bikers, the tone felt light-hearted.

The Promised Land

GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★★

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel

Screenplay Written by: Nikolaj Arcel, Anders Thomas Jensen

Based on the Book by: Ida Jessen

Produced by: Louise Vesth

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin, Simon Bennebjerg, Gustav Lindh, Kristine Kujath Thorp.

‘God is chaos. Life is chaos.’

‘I don’t agree.’

Opening in 1755, the heath of Jutland cannot be cultivated.

For decades the king has sent men to tame the heath but it cannot be tamed; until single-minded Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) seeks permission, his reward a noble title, manor and servants.

The Royal Treasury betting on the captain being unsuccessful, they agree, not realising the determination of Kahlen, a gardener’s boy turned decorated captain, serving 25 years in Germany.

Kahlen hacks at the heath, harrowing by hand as the seasons pass with snow, sun, rain and mist. With the help of a minister, Anton Eklund (Gustav Lindh), he finds husband and wife, Johannes Eriksen (Morten Hee Andersen) Ann Barbara (Amanda Collin), runaway farming tenants to keep house and farm in return for shelter and food. But no wage.

It’s the best deal they’ll get, on the run from their master, Frederik De Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), Khalan’s powerful neighbour, the scars running across Johannes back telling the tale of Schinkel’s brutality, symptomatic of the nobility shown to care more for politics than the value of life, servants treated like slaves, raped and whipped and boiled alive.

Schinkel decides the heath is his land.

Uncultivated land is the king’s land. But if Khalen is successful, the land will be settled, bringing people, making Khalen a noble and therefore competition for power.

The film follows Khalen as he fights for his dream, digging deeper into his past as he builds his life with the people who share his work, the outlaws and the young darkling, Anmai Mus (Melinda Hagberg) bought and sold and cheeky.

There’s a David and Goliath theme, and what Khalen’s willing to sacrifice to succeed.

Director and screenwriter, Nikolaj Arcel states: ‘I wanted to tell a grand, epic tale about how our ambitions and desires will inevitably fail if they are all we have. Life is chaos; painful and ugly, beautiful and extraordinary, and we are often helpless to control it. As the saying goes, “We make plans and God laughs.”’

At times, The Promised Land hard to watch because I became emotionally invested in the characters, the hard choices, the evil of power – it’s a dark tale but there’s also light.

Like the endless fields of heather, it’s a vast feeling, watching the earth turn over, the soil running through Khalen’s hands, so the film becomes a story about what to hold onto in life and what to let go.

The Fall Guy

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★

Rated: M

Directed by: David Leitch

Written by: Drew Pearce

Based on the TV Series by: Glen A. Larson

Produced by: Guymon Casady, David Leitch, Kelly McCormick

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke, Zara Michales, Ben Knight.

‘I’m just the stunt guy.’

Ryan Gosling as stunt man Colt Seavers to super star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) brings back the adorable to a tough guy role, ‘Did she say anything about me?’

Because after Colt breaks his back during a stunt on set, he disappears from his girlfriend, camera person, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt).

Colt changes his number.

He gets a job parking cars.

Then Colt gets called back to work by Tom’s agent Gail (Hannah Waddingham) directed by none other than his ex, Jody.

Gail tells him Jody wants him back.

Colt definitely wants her back.

He just doesn’t know how to say it. He just does things like cry his eyes out to Taylor Swift and pulls the tie under Jody’s gardening hat snug under her chin.

Did I say adorable?

I was surprised about how much of this movie is a romance between these two: stunt man and camera person turned director.

And as advertised, The Fall Guy is also a stunt movie, based on the TV series from the 80s, filmed in Sydney Australia which is pretty cool, with so very many explosions and I have to say terrible humour.

Think a Post-it note with, ‘Sell cockatoo’ written on one side and on the other, ‘Buy koala.’

The Aussie references hit like a lead balloon.

And the not so subtle dual meaning of the movie storyline and romance was overcooked, as was the fast forward dialogue. It felt like there was one speed and it was run around, talk fast at highly agitated levels and again, explosions. It was too much.

Colt when tied up and trying to talk his way out even talks about movies made with ‘too much.’

But I have to say those hesitations and head flicks from Gosling added just the right amount of giggle because it was subtle.

And yes, the addition of a unicorn to illustrate Colt’s state of mind was clever and genuinely funny.

So, yes there’s a lot of fun here, but unlike the stunts, not all the humour landed.

Civil War

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Alex Garland

Written by: Alex Garland

Produced by: Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Gregory Goodman

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Nick Offerman, Wagner Moura, Jefferson White, Nelson Lee, Evan Lai, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Greg Hill, Edmund Donovan.

‘Mines ahead.’

In a word, Civil War is unflinching.

Set in the near future, the fourth film directed by Alex Garland, follows war photographer, Lee (Kirsten Dunst), along with fellow journalist Joel (Wagner Moura) and veteran journalist Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) as they document a civil war in America.

The Western Forces, an armed alliance of states rebel against the federal government as the film opens out of focus, to a closeup of the president (Nick Offerman) prepping himself to tell lies to the nation, rehearsing in between flashes of war on the streets.

A crowd waits while soldiers hold machine guns. The press take photos. The soundtrack builds. A young girl, Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) with a camera gets in close to the action as pressure builds, as the violence builds with the music.

Jessie gets smacked in the face; unprotected, she puts herself in the face of violence until Lee shepherds her away.

Then a bomb explodes.

Then silence as Lee takes photos of the carnage.

Jessie wants to be just like Lee.

So when Lee and Joel decide to go to DC, to photograph and interview the president before the The Western Forces take over the capitol, forcing surrender, Jessie talks her way into coming along.

After decades of being a journalist, Sammy wants a lift a Charlottesville, not DC. Not where journalists are views as combatants. He doesn’t want in on their suicide pact. And Lee doesn’t want to be burdened by a journalist who’s too old to run away.

It’s 857 miles to DC.

The countdown a timeline of the film as the four determined documenters of war make their way into an ever-increasing crisis of violence.

It gets brutal.

There’s a callous tone to this film. The violence has that element of senselessness that comes with war movies, Garland making a point not to sensationalise the violence, “‘It is exceptionally difficult’, Garland says, ‘to make a war movie that is, in fact, anti-war.’”

The perspective of the film is watching the journalists document the war, adding another dimension of psychological callousness, or how the callous mindset develops – Lee has a duty to record, wanting to capture that perfect shot. The questions about what is happening is for other people to ask.

Joel is addicted to the adrenaline of being on the front line, ‘What a fucking rush.’

Jessie has never felt more alive as when she thought she was going to die.

It’s senseless and brutal. But I couldn’t look away.

Civil War is a film that finds that edge, to walk that fine line to understand the need to document; the journalist not only risking life but also harnessing the ability to close the door on feeling empathy, even morality.

To only be the observer, a lens.

It’s disturbing.

The balance of that loss of humanity is the toll the job takes on Lee.

The superstar photographer, losing her belief in journalism.

Difficult themes to unpack and like Garland’s previous films (Men (2022), Annihilation (2018), Ex Machina (2014)) Civil War feels unique but not in a fantastical way; this time he’s grabbed the truth by the throat and has not held back shining a bright light on what people are capable of closing their eyes to – the journalists taking photos to show the world while closing their eyes to what they’re documenting.

And the point is made because this is a very well-made film: the camera work, the cast and performances, Kirsten Dunst of course, but Jesse Plemons as an unknown soldier asking the question, ‘What kind of American are you?’ is unforgettable.

Some of the images stain the mind and remain long after the credits roll.

I really don’t like war movies because of that senseless violence, but Civil War is worth seeing because there’s something different here, the unpacking of the complex psychology of the characters adds a thought-provoking darkness that is uniquely Alex Garland.

Monkey Man

GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★★

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Dev Patel

Story by: Dev Patel

Screenplay Written by: Dev Patel and Paul Angunawela and John Collee

Produced by: Dev Patel, Jomon Thomas, Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Christine Haebler, Anjay Nagpal

Starring: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte, Makarand Deshpande.

‘It’s time to remember who you are.’

With red font and the stance of a menacing man holding a knife, I was expecting blood in Dev Patel’s directional debut. And Monkey Man did not disappoint. There is just the right amount of bloody action here that builds throughout the film.

Also starring, this is a different style to Patel’s previous roles, notably, Lion (2016) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008).

As Monkey Man, he still has those soulful eyes, here to echo the tragedy of his childhood, losing his parents and home during a land grab, a reclaiming of his parents and fellow farmers’ land for spiritual purposes. But really, for dodgy deeds by a conducted by a corrupt guru backing bent police and the soon to be elected Sovereign Party.

Here, those soulful eyes reflect fire while his hands drip with blood.

The film opens with the legend of Hanuman, told by Monkey Man’s mother (Adithi Kalkunte) when he was a child.

Hanuman was very hungry.

A spell was cast.

He saw a shiny mango up in the sky.

Hanuman flew to grab the mango only to discover it was the sun.

So the Gods punished him. Took his power.

Then the film cuts to Monkey Man fighting in an underground fight club. The men wear masks. Monkey Man wears a gorilla mask, like he’s Hanuman without his power.

The crowd roars, stamping their feet.

The manager (Sharlto Copley) tells him, ‘They fucking hate you.’

But Monkey Man doesn’t care.

If he bleeds, he gets the blood bonus.

And he needs money so he can buy a gun.

And he needs a gun to take revenge.

To get revenge he must get access to those who slaughtered his family to steal their land.

And to get access he needs to get a job at, Kings; a restaurant and club for the rich and powerful where drinks, women and drugs are served without question.

The film is a study in colour, the club drenched in red light, the film set in Mumbai (but filmed in Indonesia); a city that lends a vibrant backdrop to the constant shifting and refocussed camera work.

What stood out was the handheld cam moments, following a dog through the streets, the theft of a purse followed through a dozen hands like a cleverly orchestrated ballet.

Then the flow stops, the soundtrack lifts (fantastic soundtrack!) for a moment, breath held, before the abrupt return to the action where the jolting camera makes the movement feel like desperation.

There’s a lot of thought put into each scene, with a definite beginning, middle and end to the storyline – for me the beginning and end amazing, the transition of Monkey Man in the middle gets lost. Like a Rocky transformation that jars with the tone of the rest of the film because what comes at the beginning and end feels unique – the transformation felt like a loss of confidence, harking back to what has already been done before. But I get the necessary transition before the… Revenge.

‘You need to destroy in order to grow, to create space in your life.’

And Monkey Man is definitely a revenge film with the added difference of the legend of Hanuman at the storyline’s foundation.

The Gods took his power and then Monkey Man took it back.

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