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.
Starring: Omar Sy, Alex Lutz, Ana Girardot, Sabine Azéma, Pascal Elbé, Audrey Dana.
An adaptation of the famous French play written by Jules Romain, Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine (1923), director Lorraine Lévy has brought the story forward in time to the 1950s and has replaced an older white gent with a tall and handsome black, Dr. Knock (Omar Sy).
The play is a French favourite and I can see why: the setting a quaint village with its inhabitants fully formed characters that are both delightful, terrible and most importantly all know each other a little too well.
Dr. Knock, although a stranger, arrives charming and smart and different, sweeping the villiagers off their feet.
But I wasn’t always convinced of Dr. Knock’s good character.
Knock, formally a gambler down-on-his-luck, finds fortune when escaping his debts by applying to be a doctor on board a ship, enthusiastically waving to his debtors as the ship departs.
He has found his calling. After finishing his post, he takes himself to medical school to five years later fill the job of country GP in the beautiful provincial village of St-Maurice.
Conman-turned-GP, Dr. Knock plans on getting rich by making up as many illnesses and treatment plans as he can suggest to his willing patients.
‘Healthy people are merely unaware sick ones,’ he exclaims to much agreement.
He has an uncanny ability to infect the healthy, explaining to a rich widow the cure for insomnia is to imagine a crab or giant spider eating away at her brain, while extending his fingers and dancing them in front of her eyes like spider legs.
His charm and business sense allow him reverence in the village, all the people thinking of him as a saint. Except, ironically, the priest (Alex Lutz).
When meeting beautiful Adèle (Ana Girardot) it is the first time we see Knock lost for words and we begin to see the softer side of the man: she recognises him for who he truly is. Yet the audience is still left to wonder: Is he a charlatan? A doctor? Or both?
The film is sweet and amusing with the slapstick humour of the French, alcoholic post office worker falling head first with his bicycle in the village fountain, included.
In the end, I was won over like the villagers as the film elevated above the usual human condition (and health issues!) into something more: you can’t make happiness happen, it just happens. But you can try.
Starring: Maxine Peake, Paddy Considine, Stephen Graham, Tony Pitts, Alun Armstrong, Kevin Eldon, Christine Bottomley, Lindsey Coulson, Macy Shackleton, Hebe Beardsall, Kevin Rowland and Richard Hawley.
Seeing the title and hearing the song, Funny Cow, my reaction was defensive. Being called a Funny Cow is not a compliment.
But growing up in Bradfield during the 80s, being called a Funny Cow is about the best a female comedian can hope for because, ‘unstable bitches aren’t tolerated in the pack’.
Opening to ‘Funny Cow’ (Maxine Peake) on stage, famous now, she reminisces about her past: her father (Stephen Graham) a great communicator with his fists; her mother (Christine Bottomley as younger mum, Lindsey Coulson as older mum), an alcoholic.
After sending her father off with a, ‘goodbye you miserable bastard’, she meets her husband, Bob (Tony Pitts), where the cycle starts all over again.
Sometimes life is so bad it’s funny.
The film follows Funny Cow through her life, surviving not because of a backbone but because of her funnybone.
Funny Cow is raw, written by Tony Pitts (also starring) with truth and an extraordinary performance from Maxine Peake. The times of the working men’s clubs during the 70s and 80s captured so well it felt like the story was based on an autobiography.
What makes the film so interesting is the poignant moments, to see behind the veil, to see the truth.
Being an outcast is tough.
Trying to be a female comedian, to stand-up in front of those audiences is even tougher, particularly when the threat of a broken nose is waiting for you at home.
Director Adrian Shergold pieces together a life over four decades. Looking back the film shows Funny Cow walking past her younger self contrasting her new polished self, driving a red sports car, with the mud and poverty of her younger years: if only we could tell that young girl, the one we used to be, that everything will turn out okay.
We can be who we pretend to be and die, or we can hold onto the truth and live. That’s the message I got. Being able to laugh at life when it’s at its worst takes the bravest person.
The character, Funny Cow, is so relatable that I can say she’d be the last person to want to be an inspiration, describing herself as a monster. Adding to the legend that all great comedians are depressives: to see life, to live it and see the truth of it and be able to share that truth with an audience takes talent.
But this isn’t a comedy. Funny Cow is the journey taken to become a comedian, with all the good and bad shown with a rare honesty.
Story by: Richard Curtis and Ol Parker and Catherine Johnson
Based on the Songs of ABBA
Music and Lyrics by: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
Produced by: Judy Craymer, p.g.a., Gary Goetzman, p.g.a.
Starring: Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, Andy Garcia, Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, with Cher and Meryl Streep.
Going to see a musical makes me brace myself like some people cringe at the thought of watching a gory horror – it didn’t help I attempted to watch the original Mamma Mia! The Movie (2008) recently and just couldn’t stand the enthusiasm of idiots for more than half an hour…
So, from the perspective of someone who doesn’t go for musicals, I found Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again a far more subtle version of the original with the humour based on the silly rather than the ridiculous.
Opening on the beautiful Greek island of Kalkairi, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) has transformed her mother’s Hotel Bella Donna in preparation of a grand opening with views of an aqua sea, plantation blinds (that actually work) and a gentleman-manager: Señor Cienfuegos (Andy Garcia); the share of his niceties and fire bargained over, the final offer an 80/20 split between returning Dynamos, Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters).
But there’s a sadness that descends when Sophia is left without her Sky (Dominic Cooper also cast in a favourite series of mine, Preacher – talk about a different character!) who has a job offer in New York, the conflict reflected in the weather as rain falls, threatening to ruin the opening.
The film then follows threads back and forth between current day to 1979 where young and free Donna (Lily James) and best friends Tanya (Jessica Keenan Wynn) and Rosie (Alexa Davies) graduate from University.
There’s clever splicing and layers between the two times showing the young Donna as she meets Young Sam (Jeremy Irvine), Young Bill (Josh Dylan) and Young Harry (Hugh Skinner), to reveal what really happened with possible dad: one, two and three.
The film embraces the circle of life as fate turns from mother to daughter and all that brought their world together to fall apart to be brought back again all threaded together with the music of ABBA.
I found the songs here calmer and more melodic compared to the original soundtrack with tracks such as ‘Fernando’ (by Cher and Andy Garcia), ‘Andante, Andante’ (Lily James) and ‘My Love, My Life’ (Amanda Seyfried, Lily James and Meryl Streep).
But don’t worry disco fans, Cher still manages a grand gesture: frilled, fluffy-haired and freed into the spot-light with ‘Super Trouper’ (Cher, Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Andy Garcia, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Lily James, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Alexa Davies, Josh Dylan, Jeremy Irvine and Hugh Skinner).
I’m just thankful the whole film wasn’t over-done like teens spliced with the older versions high on champagne and some hybrid of stimulant and steroid to beef up the screech of ridiculous in song!
Instead, Here We Go Again is kinda sweet (Lily James warm like sunshine reminding me of her role as Debora in Baby Driver (2017)) and funny with original Greek owner of the hotel, Sofia (Maria Vacratsis) commenting on young Sam’s wandering eye and restless groin.
And the harking back to young Harry’s virginal awkward days where he saw, ‘very little reason not to crack on’.
I admit I got caught up because I found the film able to take a crack at itself, to allow some of the enthusiasm to calm, to allow the charm and humour and silliness through like a village goat who gives chase through a grove of orange trees.
Not my style of film but I admit there were some laughs, and with a glass, a friend or partner (or piece of cake!), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a good bit of fun with a few emotional bits, some singing and life decisions all mixed with the turquoise beauty of Greece.
Starring: Maria Mozhdah, Adil Hussain, Rohit Saraf, Ekavali Khanna, Ali Arfan, Sheeba Chaddha, Lalit Parimoo, Jannat Zubair Rehmani, Isak Lie Harr, Nokokure Dahl.
Released in Australia as part of the Scandinavian Film Festival 2018
Winner: Audience Award, AFI Fest 2017
Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam 2018
Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2017
It took many years for director and writer, Iram Haq to tell the autobiographic story of her past. To be able to tell of her experience as a sixteen-year-old, in the film known as Nisha (Maria Mozhdah), growing up in a Pakistani family living in Norway.
Now, after enough time has passed, Iram is able to show the pain of being betrayed and kidnapped with an unflinching eye.
No mean feat as the pain of this difficult time was caused by her family – her betrayal, the threat to kill, her abuse – all because, what would people think of her behaviour?
What Will People Think is an apt title as the embarrassment of the family is more important than the life of a girl growing up, just like her friends; the film about her father (Adil Hussain) as much as about her because it’s his over-reaction when finding a boy in her bedroom that sets the course of her life.
And the family follow his instruction. His son; her brother partaking in sending her back to Pakistan against her will, telling her to enjoy the trip, talking to his father about how cool the new BMW is while Nisha has no idea of her fate. Her life, not her own.
We are taken from the cold and snowy world of Norway, where kids play basketball and go to parties, to the heat of Pakistan, the crumbling old buildings and markets and mosquitoes showing the contrast of two completely different worlds.
It’s a nightmare that deepens as Nisha’s left with relatives in Pakistan, trying to make her way, only to be betrayed again and again, all under the guise of being for her own good; the continued harassment and relentless discipline, to do what she’s told under threat of death, her constant reality.
There’s a fierce emotive story here, told without dramatisation so the performance of Maria Mozhdah as Nisha hits harder, digs deeper.
The times I did have tears spring to my eyes were those warm moments when Nisha was seen, heard and loved – a little sister giving her a hug, or the simple attempt to fly an orange kite upon a rooftop.
And the humanity of members of the family are shown through their love of being together: cooking, eating, praying, bickering. All normal family stuff.
It’s the terror of stepping outside the social boundaries, of being found-out and shunned that turns good people into fearful people, into something cold.
The Norwegian Child Welfare Services are brought in to assess and act when the family show behaviour unacceptable in the culture they’re living. Yet the family isn’t all bad, the film showing love and warmth making it harder to see the turning away – the authoritative stance and abuse giving insight into the culture clash that stuns the sensors. To see a father spit in his daughter’s face, for her to lack any control makes me furious because it’s so unfair.
But the film isn’t about anger or hurt, in the end it comes down to courage and I was left with a lingering admiration of Nisha’s bravery.
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Roland Møller, Noah Taylor, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber, Hannah Quinlivan.
Going to see an action blockbuster with Dwayne Johnson at the helm, I felt I already knew what to expect with Skyscraper.
And as advertised Skyscraper dazzles with huge effects including: a burning super tower of 225 stories and more than 3,500 feet high, giant wind turbines used as power, an internal garden thirty-stories high with waterfall and all the tech that goes into the maintenance and functioning of such a massive building all controlled by the touch of one device, a tablet operational only with the bio imprint of security consultant, former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and U.S. war veteran, Will Sawyer (Dwyane Johnson).
The film opens on an operation that goes bad, Will severely injured losing his left leg below the knee. But while getting treatment in hospital he meets his wife, Naval surgeon Dr. Sarah Sawyer (Neve Campbell).
He moves on with his life, getting married and having twins, Henry (Noah Cottrell) and Georgia (McKenna Roberts), but still struggles with his day-to-day life as an amputee.
Now consulting for the job-of-a-lifetime (thanks to his old buddy, Ben (Pablo Schreiber)) underwriting the security for the highest and most technologically advanced building in the world, Will and his family move into their new address on the edge of the Kowloon side of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour: the first residents to move into the Pearl.
We see the injured hero nervously getting ready to meet the building’s visionary creator Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han), and see the love and support of his family making it seem anything is possible, until it all turns bad when deadly assassins and bad guys’ hell-bent on revenge steal the tablet to shut off all counter-measures as a fire rages on the 96th floor – below the floor where Will’s family are trapped.
It’s amazing what Will can do to save his family: leaping off a super-crane 1,000 feet in the air, edging along a window ledge so high above ground you’d need oxygen; all believable because it’s The Rock and as always, he manages to bring you alongside with him – like the crowd below the burning building, I cheered him on.
I made a comment before heading into the cinema, wondering if the character would weaponize his prosthetic leg, and the attachment comes in handy as he escapes death again and again.
The injury also gives Will vulnerability – a different role for The Rock that forces the character, Will to overcome not only external forces but also internal as he battles his own insecurity.
And the way he overcomes each obstacle with self-deprecating, yet practical self-reliance, adds some great humour to the film – a talent writer and director, Rawson Marshall Thurber has also shown in previous films, Central Intelligence (2016) and We’re the Millers (2013).
I was also impressed with the performance from Neve Campbell as Will’s wife, Dr. Sarah Sawyer, her quiet strength making a stoic contribution, the two parents a good team in keeping their family alive.
So, if you’ve watched the trailer, you know what’s coming but you won’t be disappointed either with good action, vertigo-inducing effects and a solid story.
I won’t say my expectations were surpassed but there was some good fun here making Skyscraper a worthwhile entertainer.
Produced by: Deepak Nayar and Philip Von Alvensleben
Co-Produced by: Paul Sarony
Executive Produced: by Tom Ortenberg, Nik Bower, Raja Gosnell, Max Botkin, Scott Lambert, Kassee Whiting, Yu-Fai Suen, Robert Norris, and Norman Merry
Starring: Will Arnett, Natasha Lyonne
Voiced by: Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordin Sparks, Stanley Tucci, Shaquille O’Neal, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Alan Cummings, RuPaul Persphone, Anders Holm, Kate Micucci and Blake Anderson.
It’s school holiday time which means it’s time for some silliness at the cinema.
Show Dogs is no exception complete with talking dogs including Max the NYPD Rottweiler loner police dog who’s, ‘Good at taking a bite out of crime.’
And his human partner, Federal Agent Frank Mosley (Will Arnett) who does his best to keep up with his four-legged friend without ‘mounting him’.
Puns proliferate as the dynamic duo search for baby panda Ling-Li stolen from his mother by an animal smuggling ring, to be sold at the Canini Invitational Dog Show in Las Vegas where all the glitz and glamour of the best dogs in the world are shown by the equally competitive and glitzy handlers.
To track the smugglers and find Ling-Li, garbage eater and proud toilet drinker Max must be entered into the competition by the clueless Frank.
Without help from special canine consultant Mattie Smith (Natasha Lyonne), a professional dog handler and groomer, along with a disgraced and abandoned aging Papillon, once known as ‘Philippe De Fabulous’ for being a three-time world champion Show Dog, the-one-who-bites (AKA, Max) and the-one-who-doesn’t-know-where-he’ll-be-bitten-next (FBI agent, Frank), doesn’t stand a chance.
Director Raja Gosnell takes us back to the family-fun times of live-action movies, which is rare these days with most kid-movies’ animation. So, I was expecting some big-time silliness escaping a dreary winter Sunday afternoon: talking dogs – tick! Silly? Not silly enough!
I realise I’m not the targeted audience but there was an undercurrent of serious in Show Dog, a holding back I didn’t expect.
I’m not saying the film wasn’t light-hearted, with dogs wearing sunglasses and pigeons getting, well, ‘pigeon bumps’.
But there was a forced moral to the story kinda thrown in with Max re-writing what it is to be a Show Dog while learning to trust people who see the world a different way.
Being such a fan of his character in Arrested Development I expected more humour from human Frank, played by Will Arnett. Yet, he was more reserved here with the focus on the dog Max who wasn’t a funny character, more the, I-listen-to hip-hop, take-me-serious, character.
The humour didn’t always hit the mark but jez the panda was cute, and yes, I’m one of those people who don’t own a dog but get down to the dog park whenever I can to hang out and be entertained by their pure delight of running, smelling and fetching. And the director here explains, “the only things we’re doing in post-production, in terms of the dog’s performance, is eyebrows and mouth and a few eye shapes. The rest is 100% the dog’s performance.”
Not my cup-of-tea but tolerable to take the kids for an outing.
Based on the Book by: Tami Oldham Ashcraft with Susea McGearhart
Screenplay by: Aaron Kandell & Jordan Kandell and David Branson Smith
Produced by: Baltasar Kormákur, p.g.a., Aaron Kandell & Jordan Kandell, Shailene Woodley
Director of Photography: Robert Richardson
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin, Jeffrey Thomas, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Grace Palmer, Tami Ashcraft.
“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”
Adrift is a survival story, the focus on how love conquers all.
Based on the book written by Tami Oldham, “Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival at Sea”, Adrift is the true story of how Tami (Shailene Woodley) survived forty-one days lost at sea after the boat she was sailing in with her fiancé and long-time sailor, Richard (Sam Claflin) encountered the most catastrophic hurricane recorded in history, Hurricane Raymond.
We’re taken back and forth in time, from the devastation and aftermath of waking in a wreck, floating on an unforgiving sea, to the time when Tami first met Richard.
Opening in Tahiti in 1983, Tami’s in her early twenties, traveling the world working at each destination until she saves up to travel to the next. She spends her days surfing, immersing herself in the culture and being free.
Then Richard literally sails into her life on a boat he’s made by hand, sharing her passion for freedom and travel.
When asked to sail a friend’s boat back to the States, they decide that thirty days at sea together would be the perfect adventure.
Adrift is a romance including the hesitation, the thought of being stuck together and wondering if it’s really a smart move (Being together, yes. Sailing to the States? Definitely not!). But the couple are shown sailing the seas, living in a blissful love-bubble. Until they sail straight into hurricane Raymond.
I’m not one who usually goes in for the emotional, romantic dramas. And yes, Adrift has all that awkward marriage proposal, cheesy flower-in-the-hair and kisses and general sweetness when two people find, The One. But with admitted tears streaming down my face at the end of this film, there was more to this story than romance.
Growing up on the water in Hawaii, screenwriters, Aaron and Jordan Kandell (Moana (2016)) wanted to write a story with the ocean as the setting.
And director Baltasar Kormákur (The Deep (2012) and more recently, Everest (2015)) being a world-class sailor was able to push the limits of filming to capture the survival story in-camera, working with academy award winner, cinematographer, Robert Richardson (JFK(1991), The Aviator (2004) and Hugo(2011)) to take the audience into the reality of being lost at sea and the devastation of living through starvation, hallucinations, loneliness and fear.
I could feel the sun beating down on cracked lips, the harsh cold ocean heaving the boat, the pain and the thought of what would I do in that situation?
Yet the romance of the love story is sometimes a little hard to take, with the constant woops of travel-mad Tami showing her wild side and independence.
Sam Claflin as Richard plays the English sailor well; here as the injured Richard (and in a previous role of dependence in, Me Before You(2016)) – what can I say, he has that adorable English charm about him.
And Shailene Woodley as Tami with her quiet will a trade-mark of strength that gives way to softness eventually won me over by the end of the film.
So yes, Adrift is a bit cheesy, but there’s more to this romance with a few surprises in the telling of this incredible story of survival.
Written by / Based on Characters Created by: Taylor Sheridan
Produced by: Basil Iwanyk, Edward L. Mcdonnell, Molly Smith, Thad Luckinbill, Trent Luckinbill
Music by: Hildur Guđnadóttir
Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Catherine Keener.
The word Sicario comes from the zealots of Jerusalem. Killers who hunted the Romans who invaded their homeland. In Mexico, Sicario means hitman (Sicario, 2015).
Sicario: Day of the Soldado brings the same grit as the previous instalment with Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) returning to take revenge on the cartel who killed his wife and daughter; this time CIA operative Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) needs the assassin’s special set of skills to kidnap the daughter of a cartel kingpin to start a war. Because now the American Government has declared the cartels as terrorists.
Returning from the Middle East it’s a tactic Matt Graver has used before: take down a king, you solve problems; you make peace. Take down a prince (or here, princess), you create chaos.
Writer, Taylor Sheridan has brought back many familiar faces, developing the characters further with the exception of FBI Critical Incident Response Group Agent, Kate Macer (Emily Blunt).
Emily Blunt in the original was such a significant piece, the entire film circling her role as, the agent used by forces above her pay-grade, that I wondered how a sequel could have the same impact without her.
Yet, the shear gravitational pull of Benicio Del Toro as Alejandro and Josh Brolin as Matt Graver grab your attention, the undercurrent of force from these bad-guys, now shown to be the ones used by the government for supposed good, are further revealed as the story takes a dark road filled with soldiers from both sides of the boarder fighting their own battles – some newly recruited Coyotes where the money’s in the shepherding of migrants from Mexico to America, more money made from human trafficking than drugs; to the kidnapped daughter of a cartel kingpin, Isabela Reyes (Isabela Moner): sixteen-years-old, queen of her universe and willing to scratch and defend her own pride until the reality of her father’s business is revealed; her kidnappers the only ones she can trust.
It’s a story that keeps developing, like the previous Sicario. And the tone is similar; yet there’s a more dramatic, emotional undertone as the innocence of the young girl Isabela reminds Alejandro of his daughter and reminds Matt of his humanity.
Italian director, Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah, Romanzo Criminale, A.C.A.B.: All Cops Are Bastards and Suburra) certainly had big shoes to fill after director, Denis Villeneuve absolutely nailed, Sicario(2015) (which I gave five stars, see review here).
I’m talking steal-caps not the open-toed numbers worn by Matt – here in Crocs (showing much more about this character than words just by his choice of footwear: brilliant).
And Sollima has succeeded in creating a film similar in tone but slightly different, exploring a more emotional landscape demonstrated so well in the soundtrack.
After the recent passing of composer, Jóhann Johannsson (composer of Sicario and the film here dedicated to his memory), his protégé and collaborative partner, Hildur Guđnadóttir was tasked with composing the soundtrack for Soldado.
Again, we have a similar sound with Guđnadóttir mirroring the same restraint; orchestral touches here and there and references to ‘The Beast’ – with downward bass glissandos and distorted drums.
The droning of that identifiable sound of foreboding doom would have been a temptation for over-use. But there’s control, like the quiet power and force of Alejandro, the man instantly recognisable by the way he holds himself, by the quiet swagger of his walk. And it’s the restraint that creates the edge-of-your-seat suspense.
There’s gun shots and blood and explosions but not gratuitous violence because that would take away from the detail of the story.
And devices like raids viewed through the night-vision goggles of soldiers soften the violence, the grainy green of blood splatter more like watching a computer game than people being shot and killed.
So thankfully for us, the audience, we get a sequel that keeps the brilliance of the first film continuing with a new and interesting story.
Some of the Villeneuve poetry is missing. Even with those wide-len’s shots of a lonely desert still seem to miss the expanse of his eye. And I didn’t relate to young Isabela Reyes like the force that was Emily Blunt as Kate Macer.
Yet with my expectations set to a such a high level, I was not disappointed.
Produced by: Frank Marshall, p.g.a., Patrick Crowley, Belén Atienza, p.g.a.
Executive Producers: Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow
Director of Photography: Oscar Faura
Production Designer: Andy Nicholson
Editor: Bernat Vilaplana
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Visual Effects Supervisors: David Vickery, Alex Wuttke
VFX Producer: Dan Barrow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, Jeff Goldblum, BD Wong, Geraldine Chaplin, Isabella Sermon, Robert Emms, Peter Jason.
After the dinosaurs escaped Jurassic World, it seemed nothing could stop them from taking over the island of Isla Nublar. But every so often, nature reminds us of true power.
Following on from Jurassic World (2015),Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens on a familiar face, the eccentric expert on chaos theory, Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) addressing a Senate committee about the fate of the remaining dinosaurs as the island they inhabit is about to be destroyed by an erupting volcano: Should the dinosaurs be saved? Or should we let nature take its course and allow the dinosaurs to become extinct, again?
The world off-balance, we have a natural disaster movie with exploding fire rocks and clouds of ash and molten lava melting the island as dinosaurs run for their lives picking off humans eaten like meat off popsicle sticks.
It’s a favourite theme of Michael Crichton, the franchise based on his science fiction novel, Jurassic Park (1990), where he explores the morality of scientific advancement.
Here, instead of re-creating the dinosaurs, there is the question of allowing nature to correct the biological disaster begun by John Hammond, or to work against nature to save these magnificent creatures.
In this next chapter of the Jurassic trilogy, director Juan Antonio “J.A.” Bayona (The Impossible, The Orphanage and A Monster Calls) has been brought on board to collaborate with writers Derek Connolly & Colin Trevorrow, and with him we get more than an action/sci-fi, this new instalment has suspense, humour, moving moments as the innocence of animals are fought over by the evil of humans and those trying to do the right thing, and the evolution of explosive effects we’ve come to expect from the franchise.
And the characters have developed with the return of Claire Dearing and former raptor trainer Owen Grady – both suffering after the loss of Jurassic Park: Claire creating the Dinosaur Protection Group (DPG), whose mission is to save the dinosaurs remaining on Isla Nublar; the capable and loveable Owen destined to save Blue, the Velociraptor.
There’s more than one part to Fallen Kingdom, with the story becoming much more than a disaster movie, with subterfuge from Elie Mills (Rafe Spall), controller of the Lockwood Estate owned by Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), the wealthy ex-business partner of John Hammond, moving forward, at any cost.
To the humour that just keeps on coming with DPG computer tech Franklin (Justice Smith) nervous and awkward and genuinely terrified much to our amusement; tragedy when former Marine and paleoveterinarian Dr. Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda) is tasked with operating on the injured and fearsome dinosaurs, and suspense and twists with Maisie (Isabella Sermon), the adorable young granddaughter of the billionaire, Sir Benjamin Lockwood, forced to run for her life as an Indoraptor, newly genetically engineered (yes, Dr. Wu (BD Wong) is back) monster, chases her through the expansive rooms of Lockwood Estate.
And the effects are amazing.
There are five animatronic dinosaurs, so the actors could interact with tangible creatures. For Blue, they had up to twelve puppeteers or performers to make the movement as realistic as possible.
But it’s the combination of the digital and the practical that make the film.
Visual effects supervisor David Vickery and his team worked closely with creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan. “There are quite a number of animatronic dinosaurs in this film, and there has been a direct and strong collaboration between VFX and CFX.”
My head hurts thinking about how much work has been put into the detail of this film. The visuals are seamless – the dinosaurs realistic and oh so believable.
The writers have brought back old favourites like Blue and the terrifying T. rex but have also added a Baryonyx and a Carnotaurus and a particularly hilarious head-butting colourful critter, Stygimoloch.
Honestly, I haven’t been blown away by the previous Jurassic instalments… But Kingdom has everything, ramping up the effects and scare-factor, the insidious nature of man messing with genetics and the outcome, the innocence and violence of nature all rolled up into a realistic explosive package.
And how can you not love Chris Pratt returning as Owen Grady?!
More than just an entertaining block buster, Jurassic World: Final Kingdom gets an enthusiastic thumbs-up – straight back at ya Owen!
Screenplay Written by: Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen
Screen Story by: Mark Steilen
Based on the Wall Street Journal article entitled “It Takes Planning, Caution to Avoid Being It,” by Russell Adams
Produced by: Todd Garner and Mark Steilen
Executive Producers: Hans Ritter, Richard Brener, Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter
Starring: Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, Rashida Jones, Isla Fisher, Leslie Bibb, Hannibal Buress, with Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner.
Remember this track from Crash Test Dummies (1993)?
Once there was this kid who
Got into an accident and couldn’t come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white
He said that it was from when
The cars had smashed him so hard
Watch Tag then try and get that song out of your head!
Instead of a kid who had an accident, we have: Benjamin Franklin who once (apparently) said, ‘we don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.’
Taking this philosophy to heart, a group of first graders began a game of tag… that lasted for 23 years…
Tag is inspired by the true story published in the Wall Street Journal, “It Takes Planning, Caution to Avoid Being It,” by Russell Adams where every year for the entire month of May, Hoagie (Ed Helms), Sable (Hannibal Buress), Chilli (Jake Johnson) and Callahan (Jon Hamm), stalk each other – with the help of their wives – (such as Hoagie’s wife Anna (Isla Fisher), who takes the game far too seriously), until the end of the month where whomever was tagged last would have to remain the loser of the group, he-who-is-tagged, as apposed to those-who-are-not (there are no winners here), until the following year.
Although, he-who-has-never-been-tagged could be called the champion: Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner), the ultimate player, the elusive, never-been-caught, until self-proclaimed heart of the gang, Hoagie comes up with the diabolical plan to tag Pierce on his wedding day.
Gathering the guys from across the country – Callahan mid-interview with Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis) from the Wall Street Journal – they head back to their home-town in Washington, journalist Rebecca tagging (ha, ha) along, intrigued when she realises the grown men will go to any lengths to not be the last tagged, and really, to keep that child spirit alive; to keep in touch (literally) with old friends.
A funny story, but enough to stretch into a full-length movie? With a little bit of heart-warming drama thrown in the mix – just!
Director, Jeff Tomsic (Comedy Central’s “Broad City”) makes full use of the stellar cast where it wasn’t the obvious that I found funny, like those slapstick moments including comedic win-at-all-costs flying leaps. Although, the granny outfit on Hoagie was delightfully ticklish. For me it was more those subtle changes in facial expressions that hit the mark, wonderfully built upon with the black and white heads of the cast miming, you guessed it, Mmmm, mmm, mmm, hmmm… mmm, mmmm, mmm, hmm, mmmmmm.
The use of the soundtrack was a real highlight – the film filled with 90s gold from the likes of the Beastie Boys lifting those action-packed chases to toe-tapping montages of good fun.
And that’s what Tag is all about, having fun.
Tag isn’t ground breaking, but it’s not complete crap either.
If you go in not expecting much I reckon you’ll have enough fun to warm a winter’s day and leave with a grin with a few remembered gems to giggle over, because sometimes it’s good to never stop playing.
