Category: Adventure

Show Dogs

Rated: PGShow Dogs

Directed by:  Raja Gosnell

Screenplay by: Max Botkin and Marc Hyman

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.

Show Dogs

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.

Adrift

Rated: MAdrift

Directed by: Baltasar Kormákur

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.

Adrift

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.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Rated: MJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Directed by: J. A. Bayona

Written by: Derek Connolly & Colin Trevorrow

Based on Characters Created by: Michael Crichton

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.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

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!

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Rated: MSolo: A Star Wars Story

Directed by: Ron Howard

Screenplay by: Jonathan Kasdan, Lawrence Kasdan (based on characters created by George Lucas)

Produced by: Kathleen Kennedy, Jonathan Kasdan, Simon Emanuel

Executive Producers: Lawrence Kasdan, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Jason McGatlin, Allison Shearmur

Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Joonas Suotamo, Paul Bettany, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

A curious mixture of science fiction, criminal underworld and western, Solo: A Star Wars Story forsakes the Force in favour of creating classic gunslinger imagery and hero myth-building. It’s a movie that is well made, mildly entertaining and impressively acted without being memorable or thrilling, yet hard core Star Wars won’t be totally disappointed because a lot of throwaway lines from the original trilogy are explored or explained.

Many fans will be interested to find out how Han became the swaggering, cocky, gifted pilot who befriended Luke Skywalker and wooed a prickly Princess Leia. He is cynical but secretly a push-over for a worthy cause, and once visited the Spice Mines on Kessel. But what else do we get from this stand-alone entry in the Star Wars saga?

By conscientiously ticking off a number of boxes to ensure no serious fan will be disappointed, the film loses the spontaneity it needs. So while we learn more about Han’s misspent childhood and youth on Corellia, how he became a smuggler, befriended Chewbacca (a Wookiee who would become his best friend), completed the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs (beating the original record of 20 parsecs – despite parsecs being a measurement of length not time!), how he acquired the Millennium Falcon, it all seems a bit pedestrian, faithfully following a list of must haves. None of these elements are big surprises and in fairness they’ve probably been included because of fans’ expectations. But obviously non-Star Wars audiences need to be entertained as well, which is achieved to some degree by using the premise of a dangerous mission, exotic locations and encounters with various enemies, but this doesn’t necessarily translate to an exhilarating ride.

This film’s lacklustre box office returns may be the result of fan burn-out following The Last Jedi, rather than the troubled production history when Ron Howard took over from directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie), towards the end of filming. Howard re-shot over 70 per cent of the film, thus earning him a solo (!) directing credit (while Lord and Miller earned executive producer credits instead). It’s hard to know what kind of movie might have resulted from the original duo’s dabbling in improvisation and departures from the script, but there is scuttle-butt that their irreverence for the subject matter displeased studio bosses. Despite this, there are still lots of humorous situations and amusing dialogue peppered throughout, enough to raise a few laughs.

The original directors wanted a darker, murkier look (similar to the Batman versus Superman franchise), especially in the earlier scenes set on the criminal world of Corellia. There are several technically well produced but unnecessarily dragged out action sequences that basically just add a lot of length to the running time. We do see how good Han is as a pilot, someone who doesn’t like to be told the odds, and seldom listens to wiser voices. An older smuggler (Woody Harrelson) offers the sage advice, “Assume everyone will betray you and you will never be disappointed,” which Han predictably ignores, ironic given the number of double and triple crosses that occur. Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han is resilient and suitably cocky, but lacks the cynical edge Harrison Ford brought to the role. Donald Glover as the younger Lando is great fun and a dapper dresser, while the best snappy dialogue goes to his droid sidekick L3-37, played by snooty-voiced Phoebe Waller-Bridge. One cameo late in the film fairly much screams “Sequel!” so it will be interesting to see if the less than impressive ticket sales will merit a follow-up movie.

If you are a die-hard Star Wars fan you will probably want to see this latest entry out of curiosity, but non-Star Wars audiences may wonder what all the fuss is about, or opt to see the latest Deadpool outing instead.

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Avengers: Infinity War

Rated: MAvengers: Infinity War

Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Based on the Marvel comics by: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jim Starlin, George Perez, Ron Lim, Steve Ditko, Joe Simon

Screenplay by: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (with input from James Gunn)

Produced by: Kevin Feige, Mitchell Bell, Ari Costa

Executive Producers: Victoria Alonso, Louis D’Esposito, Jon Favreau, James Gunn, Stan Lee, Trinh Tran

Starring: Robert Downey Jnr, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Zoe Saldana, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Mark Ruffalo, Karen Gillan, Tom Holland, Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johansson.

Emerging a shaky shadow of my former self after watching the last tantalising scene following the credits for Avengers: Infinity War, I was reminded of some dialogue in one of my favourite films, The Princess Bride. The grandfather has been reading a book to his sick grandson who asks, “Who kills Prince Humperdinck? At the end. Somebody’s got to do it.” The grandfather replies, “Nobody. Nobody kills him. He lives.” The grandson replies, “You mean he wins? What did you read me this thing for?”

And that is exactly how I felt after seeing Avengers: Infinity War. Obviously I don’t want to spoil this film for other fans who have invested the last ten years of their lives building a sense of rapport and family around these Marvel characters across an 18-film arc, but to say I left the cinema feeling the opposite of uplifted isn’t giving too much away (hopefully). At least I wasn’t sobbing into my popcorn like some others in the packed audience.

The film opens fairly much straight after the last scene of Thor: Ragnarok, and from there the action and unfolding plot never let up. It’s safe to reveal that the main focus of the film is centred on the galactic overlord Thanos, who is after all six Infinity stones, whose combined power would allow him to unleash his insane plan across the known universe. Of course some of these stones are currently in the possession of a few of the Avengers, whose lives are imperilled as a result.

The Avengers try to prevent Thanos’ audacious plan from being realised, as we jump across continents on Earth and around far-flung locations scattered throughout the cosmos, re-meeting those heroes we have come to identify as our friends, the people in whom we have invested so much of our emotional energy. I’ve seen all 18 movies in this Marvel cinematic universe at one time or another but don’t consider myself an expert, but I found the plot reasonably easy to follow, and from the bits of exposition anyone not overly familiar with Marvel’s films should still be able to follow the main story line.

The film is awesome in the sense of being a major cinematic event, full of light, action, a majestic score, and breathtaking, incredible special effects, as well as a clever screenplay that ensures the characters get to interact with others, have a moment to shine, and plan their line of defence. The pace seldom lets up while the rare quiet moments between characters are welcome and genuinely heartfelt, their willingness to possibly sacrifice themselves for others is nobly heroic, while the snippets of humorous dialogue lighten the sense of impending gloom.

Even the CGI Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) is convincingly lifelike, unlike that Steppenwolf guy from the Justice League movie, so he’s not your typical 2D evil villain dude. The fact that I could even understand if not condone the rationale for Thanos’ actions speaks volumes for how well his character was developed and portrayed.

One critic thought the film was “funny”, but perhaps they were referring to some of the much-needed humorous exchanges, especially involving the Guardians of the Galaxy crew (whose dialogue was provided by GOTG director James Gunn), since this film overall was not funny in tone, but rather increasingly WTF? and emotionally devastating. If ever a film needed a part 2, this is it, so I hope Infinity War Part 2 is being made right now, otherwise “I will be seriously put out”, to quote Prince Humperdinck.

Sherlock Gnomes

Rated: GSherlock Gnomes

Directed by: John Stevenson

Screenplay by: Ben Zazove

Produced by: David Furnish, Steve Hamilton Shaw, Carolyn Soper

Executive Producer: Elton John

Voices provided by: Emily Blunt (Juliet), Johnny Depp (Sherlock Gnomes), James McAvoy (Gnomeo), Michael Caine (Lord Redbrick), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dr Watson), Maggie Smith (Lady Blueberry).

 

With a vocal cast of A-grade actors most other films can only dream about, those entertaining garden gnomes are back in a sequel to the 2011 animated comedy Gnomeo and Juliet, which borrowed freely from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

 

Sherlock Gnomes, the 3D computer-animated comedy sequel, you guessed it, uses a lot of the ideas and characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic crime sleuth Sherlock Holmes, along with his partner Dr Watson and nemesis Professor Moriarty, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of garden gnomes.

 

Since the first film the gnomes have been forced to relocate to a new garden in London, where Juliet is so focused on getting everything sorted out or tidied that she has little time for Gnomeo, who tries to keep the romance alive in their relationship.

 

This situation helps to emphasise the importance of not taking what you have for granted, with Gnomeo and Juliet’s relationship subtly mirroring that of Sherlock and Watson, although the latter relationship is not romantic but more a partnership based on friendship and intellect. It takes a major threat to make Sherlock appreciate Watson’s equal contribution to their crime-solving escapades.

 

Adults accompanying their children don’t miss out entirely on being entertained, as there are plenty of references throughout the film to classic Sherlock Holmes stories and characters, not that the mostly young audience will be aware of this!

 

While this film has a fairly straight forward plot, what distinguishes it from other animated fare is the way it doesn’t dumb down the clues, which are quite complicated for Sherlock Holmes to figure out, ensuring audiences are kept engaged and guessing throughout its entirety.

 

Children will be entertained by the colourful and varied inanimate objects that come to life, and how they interact with each other. The backgrounds are beautifully realised and the animation of the characters is suitably cartoonish as one would expect. The film is quite fast-paced and seems to cram a lot of action, plot and subsidiary characters into its running time, so at least it doesn’t drag.

 

The catchy soundtrack music is provided by Sir Elton John, the executive producer, who also sings some of the songs, along with other artists who do cover versions from some of his extensive catalogue.

 

I haven’t seen the first film, but I gathered from my young companion’s comments that unlike Gnomeo and Juliet, which was apparently light and fun with some nice puns and an entertaining supporting cast, Sherlock Gnomes is darker, with less use of the supporting cast from the previous film and more focus on solving the crime, fixing mistakes and renewing relationships that are endangered. Younger viewers may find some of the scenes slightly scary, such as those involving the gargoyles (which look large and menacing but whose personalities balance out their appearance) or Moriarty’s penchant for destroying garden ornaments (although this is never done on screen).

 

While this film is obviously aimed at a young audience, the presence of such skilled vocal talent, along with lots of sly references to Sherlock Holmes, will hopefully ensure that adults will be entertained as well and not feel punished by having to sit through this animated offering.

 

Rampage

Rated: MRampage

Directed by: Brad Peyton

Screenplay by: Ryan Engle and Carlton Cuse & Ryan J. Condal and Adam Sztykiel

Story by: Ryan Engle, based on the video game Rampage

Produced by: Beau Flynn, John Rickard, Brad Peyton and Hiram Garcia

Director of Photography: Jaron Presant

Music is Composed by: Andrew Lockington

VFX Supervisor: Colin Strause

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

After an experiment in space goes wrong with the Subject destroying the spaceship and allowing canisters containing a genetically mixed pathogen to fall to the Earth – all hell breaks loose as animals’ breath-in the pathogen to exponentially grow into giant mutant monsters.

The focus of the story revolves around Primatologist Davis Okoy (Dwayne Johnson) who has a close relationship with an albino silverback gorilla named George.

So when George inhales the pathogen, it’s up to Okoy and genetic engineer, Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris) to save the once docile primate and find an antidote.

It’s a solid storyline written by Ryan Engle and based on the video game Rampage – with many of the crew from San Andreas (2015) collaborating again to create Rampage: the third film from Johnson, director Peyton and producer Flynn.

The music is also once again composed by Andrew Lockington, giving the same feel as San Andreas but instead of a disaster film we have a monster film with VFX supervisor Colin Strause returning to create the realistic monsters.

I have to say, as with all the action/adventure films, there’s always that added humour – the quips here a bit weak.

And alligators (one of the monsters) and crocodiles have two eyelids, not one as shown here.  I don’t know why I was particularly distracted by this oversight, probably because the effects were otherwise so realistic.

Seeing giant mutants tearing up a city is always fun to watch on the big screen – and the effects here were outstanding (except for that missing eyelid!).

And I couldn’t help but warm to George, the not-so-gentle giant.  A little like Primatologist Davis Okoy as the seeming gentle animal lover – who doesn’t get along with humans but loves animals because you always know where you stand and like George, he’s not always so gentle.

So, there were some good parts and some not-so-good making the film a little trashy, but good-trash.

As a side note, the humour in an action movie can make all the difference for me.  If there’s some surprising dark humour or a loveable funny character (George, here, I guess), it raises the film-going experience.

The action and effects were high quality here, I just felt the humour was a bit lazy.

Over-all, good fun on the big screen with Johnson firmly at the helm, this time his massive arms over-shadowed by his monster-friend George.

So you get the feel with muscled action, big crashes with explosions mixed with a bit of warmth and humanity: classic Johnson, but better than San Andreas because I like seeing giant mutant monsters tearing up a city.

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Tomb Raider

Rated: MTombraider

Directed by:  Roar Uthaug

Produced by:   Graham King

Story by:      Evan Daugherty

Written by:   Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Alastair Siddons

Costume Designer:    Colleen Atwood, Timothy A. Wonsik

Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Kristin Scott Thomas, Daniel Wu.

The high voltage, energy tone of this movie is reimagined, tight, exhilarating and relatable.

Strange Days, Tomb Raider starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft opens with a hipster living, street smart, 21-year-old, bike courier.

Lara is a gutsy, vulnerable lead female action hero who delivers food and races the trendy high-octane streets of East London, kick boxing in her spare time and barely able to afford the rent.

This Lara lives in a tiny flat, stubbornly refusing the extraordinary wealth of her Croft inheritance with its English Manor and millions and millions of pounds.

But her fierce independence is just a mask, a mask to hide her vulnerability and pain. For to accept her inheritance, she would have to accept the death of her father, Richard (played by Dominic West), an eccentric global adventurer, who disappeared several years earlier.

The plot takes a fantastic turn when Lara is handed a puzzle box, just as she is poised to sign documents – under the watchful mother-hen one eye gaze of her Aunt Ana (played by Kristin Scott Thomas)- and acknowledge the official end of her father’s life.

Lara’s hands intuitively click open the puzzle, revealing a clue to her father’s fate – she is after all a Croft – and plummeting with her we dive into the unknown of an epic adventure to a fabled unchartered island, somewhere off the coast of Japan. On this island, a mythical 2000-year-old tomb, enshrouds a demonic Queen and a curse that will somehow wipe out mankind. A curse nobody wants to be near, but just like Pandora’s box, the curse is a rare commodity and is super attractive to those who wish to weaponize it.

Right from the start, the action is relentless and exhilarating.

In one of my favourite scenes, a hipster cycling pack – contemporary and diverse – there are no monochromatic, fluoro adverse sensible-lycra-clad-boys-club here – you swerve and fend from your seat, as the pack hunts its prey, upending the café strewn streets of East London. The thrill of the chase is urban, raw and real. I loved it.

The globe-trotting scenes are exotic and taut with tension. From London, to Junket leaping in Hong Kong, to an Island – somewhere off the coast of Japan – resplendent with a mummy’s tomb and even a WWII bomber carcase perched life-threateningly over impossibly high waterfalls.

Since 1996, Lara Croft as a lead female action figure has dominated pop culture and yes, I would love, along with thousands of other pop culture fans, love my avatar to have her skill set and physicality.

This is a new Lara Croft and following on from the success of Angelina Jolie as Lara, Alicia successfully claims her space, as Lara Croft, Tomb Raider.

Angeline Jolie as Lara has her Butler, her team, her robots to spar and train with and Croft Manor to train in. Angelina has been a Tomb Raider for a while and knows what to expect in a crypt or tomb.

Alicia as Lara is a mere fledgling, more ordinary person about to lead an extraordinary life – and so she captures us with her urban, girl-next-door accessibility, except for the fact that even when she’s smothered in pounds of 2000-year-old crypt dust she’s going to look like the statuesque kick ass action hero that she is.

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Ready Player One

Rated: MReady Player One

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Screenplay Written by: Zak Penn and Ernest Cline

Based on the Novel Written by: Ernest Cline

Produced by: Donald De Line, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Spielberg, and Dan Farah

Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki, Hannah John-Kamen, Simon Pegg and Mark Rylance.

Based on the dystopian world created in the novel written by Ernest Cline, Ready Player One opens in an overpopulated Columbus, Ohio, 2045.  A place where Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) wants to escape every chance he gets because he’s living in the Stacks… with his aunty and loser boyfriend… sleeping on top of the washing machine…

Wade thrives in the OASIS, a virtual universe where he feels alive, where as his avatar, Parzival, he has a chance to win the ultimate prize: control of OASIS.

When James Halliday (Mark Rylance), the brilliant and eccentric creator of OASIS dies, he leaves a parting gift to the world – the final game where any player can win.

Somewhere left in the game are three keys that when found lead to an Easter egg: whomever finds the egg first wins the game and control of OASIS, meaning half a trillion dollars and ultimately control of the world.

A high-stakes game that of course, has a villain: Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) head of operations of Innovative Online Industries, or IOI, and self-proclaimed colleague of everyone’s hero, Halliday.

To win the game is to win everything, and Sorrento plays to win with all the technology and army (AKA the Sixers) money can buy.  He’ll stop at nothing.  And against the young Wade Watts who’s all heart, it’s a David versus Goliath tale, set to an 80s soundtrack while featuring all the pop culture references associated with that time.

Ready Player One takes a new view of a classic ideal with Halliday, the old and awkward mentor that we love and admire; the want to be able to achieve anything as long as we work for it and want it bad enough; that love is there waiting for us if the time is right to take the leap; that with the help of friends (like the High Five) evil can be overcome…

Pretty cheesy stuff, and there’s a lot of those teen moments.  Yet, the struggles are hard-wired into our brain, so I couldn’t help but grin and cheer for the underdogs.

Add that action-adventure aspect with the riddles and search for keys in a computer game brought to life by three years of VFX work to get all the overwhelming detail right, you’ve got an entertaining film.

The highlight for me was the reference to Steven King’s, The Shining.  Most will find a reference to relate to; the 80s has something for everyone, but I found the scare-factor of The Shining and attention to the animation particularly impressive.  When inverted, into the ‘real world’, to laugh at the baddies getting their scare-on, it was brilliant: Stephen King, the ultimate equaliser.  There’s a reason I’m such a fan and hats-off to Spielberg for re-creating The Shining world so well.

But enough with the references ‘cause I’m grinning while I’m writing so I’ll end with: Ready Player One is a classic action adventure that felt unique by showing the past in a new light provoking a feel-good 4-star cheeky grin.

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Pacific Rim Uprising

Rated: MPacific Rim Uprising

Directed by: Steven S. DeKnight

Screenplay by: Emily Carmichael & Kira Snyder and

Steven S. DeKnight and T.S. Nowlin

Story by: Steven S. DeKnight and T.S. Nowlin

Based on the Characters Created by: Travis Beacham

Produced by: Guillermo del Toro, Thomas Tull, Mary Parent, Jon Jashni,

Cale Boyter, John Boyega, Femi Oguns

Executive Producer: Eric McLeod

Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Jing Tian, Cailee Spaeny, Rinko Kikuchi, Burn Gorman, Adria Arjona and Charlie Day. 

Pacific Rim Uprising is a visual immersive, escapist, global battle feast, packed full of 3D epic, mecha anime like, larger than Godzilla sized, Jaegar, super robots.

Piloted from within the skull of each Jaegar are a new generation of Jaegar pilots – who run like hamsters on a wheel, driving the Jaegars onwards to save our planet from even more gigantic, acid bleeding aliens, the monstrous ‘Kaiju.’

DeKnight may have had a focus group that picked out the best parts of action movies and married them together for Pacific Rim Uprising.

Armed with my 3D glasses and having never seen the prequel, I was captivated and transported.

The movie opens into a dystopian wasteland in Santa Monica – post-apocalyptic and peaceful – there is no Mad Max blood and guts here.

10 years after Pacific Rim, survival on the street in a post-apocalyptic world is for those with street smarts and Jake a once infamous soldier, our ambivalent hero, played by John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), chooses not to pay rent for the safety of a gated community but fend for himself in the ruins of a mansion on the outside.

Sure, his mansion comes with the gigantic carcass of a beast flattening his entire neighbourhood and he must steal Jaegar parts to supply an illegal Cyborg building trade: so long as he keeps away from the law or trading for what matters most-right-now, like handing over his luxury key cars for a bottle of tomato sauce.

When Jake is arrested for his criminal behaviour he is offered a lighter sentence, to man-up and resume his post at the Jaegar Academy, alongside Pilot Lambert(Scott Eastwood), he must train new Jaegar pilots to vanquish the Kaiju.

The characters are funny, likable and culturally diverse.

The Chinese characters are well drawn and the Mandarin spoken is substantial without feeling tokenistic.

DeKnight has drawn successfully upon influences from the 1986 movie Aliens, apparent in his settings, cast and monsters.

Aliens (1986) remains one of my top 10 movies of all time.

In the opening scenes, Jake uses a tracking device to locate illegal hardware – the tracking device has the same size, sound and movement sensitivity as that used in Aliens.

As Jake salvages, illegal Jaeger parts the spine like catacomb of machinery tunnels is reminiscent of the 1986 Alien nest.

An interior lift behind Liwen Shao(Jing Tian) at her headquarters is identical to the giant spinal cord of the 1986 Aliens.

The Kaiju bleed acid as do the aliens in Alien.

And of course, the name Newt, given here to Newton Geizler (Charlie Day) the name of the little girl, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) saves in Aliens.

Even Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) as the traditional obsessed scientist is not unlike the obsessed scientist Bishop of Aliens.

DeKnight transforms recognizable cityscapes into battlegrounds and engages a global audience. The Jaegar’s enormous size, unforgettable as they dwarf the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

As the skyscrapers of Tokyo are cleaved to shreds in a city-destroying battle scene, DeKnight magnifies the towering scale of his robots ensuring their hulk-like ground punches reverberate as a shadow presence throughout, making this a great movie experience.

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