The Latest from Movies https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/ NZME 2024-03-29T02:32:45.997Z en Francesca Rudkin: Top End Wedding, Detective Pikachu https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/francesca-rudkin-top-end-wedding-detective-pikachu/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/francesca-rudkin-top-end-wedding-detective-pikachu/ Top End Wedding Engaged and in love Lauren and Ned have just 10 days to reunite her newly separated parents and pull off their dream Top End Wedding. But Lauren's mother has gone missing, experiencing a midlife crisis. In order to find her, the couple goes on a fantastic road trip across northern Australia. Along the way they find fulfillment for their own personal journeys through the wild beauty of the landscapes and the unbeatable charm of the characters that they meet along the way. But will they finally recover Lauren's mother and pursue their dream wedding? Detective PikachuThe story begins when ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry's former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City - a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world - they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe. 2019-05-18T01:03:13.000Z Francesca Rudkin: Long Shot, The Aftermath https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/francesca-rudkin-long-shot-the-aftermath/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/francesca-rudkin-long-shot-the-aftermath/ Long Shot Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) is a gifted and free-spirited journalist with an affinity for trouble. Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) is one of the most influential women in the world. Smart, sophisticated, and accomplished, she's a powerhouse diplomat with a talent for... well, mostly everything. The two have nothing in common, except that she was his babysitter and childhood crush. When Fred unexpectedly reconnects with Charlotte, he charms her with his self-deprecating humor and his memories of her youthful idealism. As she prepares to make a run for the Presidency, Charlotte impulsively hires Fred as her speechwriter, much to the dismay of her trusted advisors. A fish out of water on Charlotte's elite team, Fred is unprepared for her glamorous lifestyle in the limelight. However, sparks fly as their unmistakable chemistry leads to a round-the-world romance and a series of unexpected and dangerous incidents. The Aftermath The Aftermath is set in postwar Germany in 1946. Rachael Morgan (Keira Knightley) arrives in the ruins of Hamburg in the bitter winter, to be reunited with her husband Lewis (Jason Clarke), a British colonel charged with rebuilding the shattered city. But as they set off for their new home, Rachael is stunned to discover that Lewis has made an unexpected decision: They will be sharing the grand house with its previous owners, a German widower (Alexander Skarsgård) and his troubled daughter. In this charged atmosphere, enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal. The Chaperone Louise Brooks the 1920s silver screen sensation who never met a rule she didn't break, epitomised the restless, reckless spirit of the Jazz Age. But, just a few years earlier, she was a 15 year-old student in Wichita, Kansas for whom fame and fortune were only dreams. When the opportunity arises for her to go to New York to study with a leading dance troupe, her mother (Victoria Hill) insists there be a chaperone. Norma Carlisle (Elizabeth McGovern), a local society matron who never broke a rule in her life, impulsively volunteers to accompany Louise (Haley Lu Richardson) to New York for the summer. Why does this utterly conventional woman do this? What happens to her when she lands in Manhattan with an unusually rebellious teenager as her ward? And, which of the two women is stronger, the uptight wife-and-mother or the irrepressible free spirit? It's a story full of surprises--about who these women really are, and who they eventually become. 2019-05-18T01:03:04.000Z Francesca Rudkin: The Hustle and The Chills https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/francesca-rudkin-the-hustle-and-the-chills/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/francesca-rudkin-the-hustle-and-the-chills/ Yet another remake has hit New Zealand cinemas this week.  Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson star in The Hustle, a female re-imagining of the classic Michael Caine comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  Is this new comedy worth the bother? Francesca Rudkin joins Jack Tame to share her thoughts.  2019-05-11T00:21:38.000Z Darren Bevan: Fantastic Beasts and critic-proof franchises https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-fantastic-beasts-and-critic-proof-franchises/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-fantastic-beasts-and-critic-proof-franchises/ Darren Bevan joins Jack Tame to discuss the new Harry Potter spinoff - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He described it as a 'critic proof' franchise, in that regardless of how it is reviewed it will rake in huge money at the box office.  Darren also casts his eye over Star Trek: Beyond which is out of DVD. For all of Darren's reviews, go to his blog - Darren's World of Entertainment 2016-11-18T21:54:59.000Z Darren Bevan: Ant-Man, Paper Towns https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-ant-man-paper-towns/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-ant-man-paper-towns/ Darren Bevan joins Jack Tame to talk the new Marvel hit Ant-Man, and John Green adaptation Paper Towns.  2015-07-17T21:51:39.000Z Darren Bevan: Terminator, Ted 2 https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-terminator-ted-2/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-terminator-ted-2/ Resident film reviewer Darren Bevan joins Jack Tame to discuss Terminator, Ted 2, and Jupiter Ascending   2015-07-03T22:10:52.000Z Far From the Madding Crowd: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/far-from-the-madding-crowd-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/far-from-the-madding-crowd-film-review/ Director: Thomas Vinterberg Starring: Carey Mulligan, Martin Sheen, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tom Sturridge 3/5 Thomas Hardy’s cherished story of courtship among the Dorset pastures has always held a seed of modernity. Danish director Thomas Vinterberg pushes its proto-feminist streak to the fore while emphasising the elementary grubbiness of rural Victorian life. Bathsheba Everdene (another effortless performance from Carey Mulligan) is a woman apart from her era. A landowner and a free spirit, her fortunes strike against three suitors: the gruff and straight-up Gabriel Oak, the melancholic gentleman Boldwood, and the rapier-swinging soldier Sergeant Troy. The conflict, it seems, is between the aspirations of an independent young woman and the men who wish to domesticate and tame her, or confine to the tradition of the day. While none of Bathsheba’s courters seek domination, it is their lack of respect for her wishes that is jarring. Oak, whose rebuffed marriage offer came with a lamb and the promise of a piano, is the stolid and reliable confidant. Never exciting (Matthias Schoenaerts perhaps plays his role with too much reserve), Oak is overlooked in favour of Troy’s abrasive self-regard. He has power and authority, standing at attention in his scarlet uniform at odds with the dull greenery of his environment. Wistfully waiting in the wings is Boldwood, played by Martin Sheen with characteristic acuity. He looks ill-at-ease and awkward despite his status. Bathsheba inevitably compromises and the quartet intersect with jealousy and heartbreak lurking in the corners. The feminist undertone can appear forced at times. In Boldwood’s empty manor, Bathsheba rebuffs his advances and retorts to his questioning: “It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” Hardy’s wry and dry observation becomes a taught political statement. Words of conscious defiance instead of an affirmation of freedom. Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen gives a wonderful texture and atmosphere to the film, allowing for both scale and intimacy when needed. There is both quiet and disquiet between the overhanging branches and brick-bound fireplaces, soft glow and harsh sunlight. Despite the camera’s nuance, Vinterberg gives too much weight to what is said and not enough to what is better left unsaid. Cloying lines are inserted in the gaps where there should only be snatched glimpses. Perhaps inevitably, Far From the Madding Crowd succumbs to the tropes of so many other period pieces, despite the veneer of modernity. The tension and uneasiness of Vinterberg’s previous film The Hunt would have been a useful compliment to his cinematographer’s sublime camerawork.  2015-06-25T04:37:32.000Z Man Up: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/man-up-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/man-up-film-review/ Director: Ben Palmer Starring: Lake Bell, Simon Pegg, Rory Kinnear 3/5 British filmmaking has a rather decent history of producing enjoyable and genuinely funny romantic comedies despite the best attempts of Hollywood to dilute and stultify. Consider the best of recent years: Death at a Funeral, Starter for Ten, Bend it Like Beckham, even Bridget Jones’ Diary. All of them, despite varying levels of wit, stand dominant above even the best American fare like 10 Things I Hate About You, The Five-Year Engagement, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Man Up revives the transatlantic rivalry, re-injecting some spontaneity and brio into the traditional romcom tropes of past-peak 30-somethings. In the age of internet dating and blind set-ups, love is still possible. The film’s resounding success is in giving Lake Bell real presence as the wonderfully dishevelled Nancy. Far past the age of toying around, it seems like any chance of finding a partner are straying into the realm of serious compromise. She cares little for convention, acerbically dismissing a bouncy blonde who she shares a train journey with. Providence strikes, and Nancy is forced to impersonate the younger and fitter lass while on a blind date with Jack (played with apt restraint by Simon Pegg). Although Bell’s dorky charm might sometimes swerve into ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ territory, her warm and unpretentious performance is a real antidote to the Amazonian fantasies of the genre. Romcoms should never be taken as representative of any relationship, but Bell points the audience towards some degree of realism. Director Ben Palmer (who helmed The Inbetweeners television show and film) keeps things light and zippy, while debutant writer Tess Morris deploys every comedic form in search of pace – from dour black humour to gross-out moments to classic slapstick. However, Man Up falters slightly as the climax comes. Cheese is inevitable in romantic comedies, though the British form tends to treat the resolution with a dose of sarcasm of ironic knowingness. A big and dumb ending does away with that freshness, bringing down the credits with more bathos than pathos. 2015-06-25T04:35:47.000Z Jurassic World: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/jurassic-world-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/jurassic-world-film-review/ Director: Colin Trevorrow Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio 3/5 In the best monster films, the creature-at-large should always be a metaphor for something else. In Godzilla, the beast personifies the atomic terror of 1945. In Alien and its sequels, the xenomorph compounded fears of not being alone and superior in the universe. King Kong became a parable on slavery in America. By wrapping these searching and troubling symbols into a popcorn-crunching piece of entertainment theatre, even the most frivolous filmgoer could be forced to confront aspects of life otherwise unseen. The original Jurassic Park possessed some of this nuance. Jeff Goldblum’s incorrigible character points out that “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn't stop to think if they should.” Jurassic World, a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 hit and its floppy sequels, nods suggestively at Goldblum’s moral dilemma, but is never involved with what anything means. The rampages return to Isla Nubar, scene of Dr Howard’s last fateful attempt at creating a theme park of free-roaming dinosaurs. His vision now fully realised, some 20,000 people are on the South American island to be thrilled by the prehistoric potpourri.  Among them are young brothers Gray and Zach (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson, echoing Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello twenty years earlier). Their aunt Claire (a neurotic Bryce Dallas Howard) runs the park with corporate considerations well to the fore. Chris Pratt, relishing his recent turn as an action star, plays Owen Grady who ‘trains’ Velociraptors as if they were nothing more than zoo lions. When profit demands, the park’s scientists create a hybrid monstrosity – a spliced and coded killing machine which breaks loose and begins chomping unsuspecting tourists. Of course, a film about dinosaurs on the loose is never about fulfilling character arcs or punishing emotional trauma. Director Colin Trevorrow seems to have understood this quite well as there is almost no attempt made to imagine his human subjects as anything more than scents to be tracked and prey to be hunted. This might be justifiable if so many hammy performances weren’t phoned in by the likes of Vincent D’Onofrio and Irrfan Kahn – their presence more distracting than forgettable.  If Homo sapiens aren’t up to the job, it falls to digitally-rendered monstrosities to provide entertainment. Between the clawed feet, screeching roars, and the thump-thump-thumping of distant dinos, there is some real excitement. Seeing faceless tourists plucked into the sky by Pterodactyls is immensely enjoyable. The landmark visual effects of 1993 are thrown entirely in favour of almost-entirely CGI creations. When latex-clad analogues are introduced for close-shot scenes, pointless 3D robs them of tentative believability. As mentioned above, Trevorrow and the four-strong writing team aren’t concerned with the tensions and depth that made Spielberg’s original so noteworthy. The director, in a pre-release interview stated “I don’t think it’s a message movie and I’m certainly not here to preach” before going on to note the King Dino in Jurassic World represented “our greed and our desire for profit.” Trevorrow, it seems, is entirely without a sense of irony. This film is laced through and through with product placements for cellphone companies and car manufacturers – even invading the dialogue itself. Could there be a more obvious self-denying metaphor? For the reasons listed, Jurassic World won’t take its place alongside Godzilla, Jaws, King Kong, or Alien. The villainous creation of mad corporate science isn’t threatening enough, nor does it have the potential for iconic status.  2015-06-10T23:12:05.000Z Darren Bevan: Entourage, Aloha https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-entourage-aloha/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-entourage-aloha/ Resident film reviewer Darren Bevan joins Jack Tame to discuss Entourage, Aloha, and American Sniper.  2015-06-05T21:58:14.000Z San Andreas: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/san-andreas-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/san-andreas-film-review/ Director: Brad Peyton Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Paul Giamatti, Carla Gugino, Alexandria Daddario 1/5 With such constantly unlikeable characters swallowing up screen time, a healthy dose of calamity and destruction can be very sweet relief. Better to see them squished or impaled than plaguing a paying audience. San Andreas is a thick, cringe-worthy, and entirely unentertaining escapade for director Brad Peyton (whose previous credits include Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore) into the disaster movie genre. The Towering Inferno, however, this is not. The exposition is dull but needs to be mentioned: a fire department rescue pilot answers the call of duty when a devastating earthquake strikes the entirety of California from LA to San Francisco. The plot is very weakly sketched, and would be almost superfluous if it didn’t give the director a chance to show The Rock delivering hammy one-liners and Alexandria Daddario’s bouncing breasts.   Spoiler alerts, the dreaded foe of film critics, are entirely unnecessary given the cliché-ridden nature of this boring dud. The macho hero, the woman in his life, the cataclysmic event somehow evaporating all previous animosity. The likable sidekick, the selfish stepfather, the not-so-tense scenes of a lead character giving CPR to another lead character. It’s all there in tedious, unimaginative squalor. With such a poor script (written by Carlton Cuse of Lost fame), the film must rely on spectacle to disguise the real disaster going on beneath – but fails on this count, too. The CGI is wafer-thin, the veneer of believability crumbling with each high-rise building collapse. The needless 3D only adds to the sense of detachment. Disaster films must always retain a sense of danger, peril, and above all, fun. The almost entirely blood-less San Andreas does none of these things. 2015-05-29T22:32:41.000Z Noble: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/noble-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/noble-film-review/ Director: Stephen Bradley Starring: Deidre O’Kane, Liam Cunningham, Brendan Coyle 2/5 Directed by Stephen Bradley and starring Deidre O’Kane in the title role, Noble traces Christina Noble’s brave steps from a broken and destitute family in Ireland to the streets of Ho Chi Minh City where she fights authorities and corrupt orphanage bosses to give homeless kids more of a chance at life than she ever received. It’s an admirable story, but neither Bradley’s direction nor O’Kane’s performance can match the sincerity or remarkableness of her exploits. The result is a formulaic and unsubtle film, as unimaginative as it is uninspiring. There is a bit of blackmail going on in this film. I say blackmail because the critic risks conflating Noble’s actual achievements with the film’s representation of her. If the critic doesn’t like the film and says so, one assumes they also dislike the title character herself. The pre-credits roll of Noble’s CV (100 projects, 700,000 children and their families aided, her sons that took over the charity) has an air of propaganda about it – as if the full weight of altruism and crusading do-gooderness could patch over immense storytelling holes. It exists in a vacuum – there are only passing references to the decades-long war which maintained so many Vietnamese citizens well below the poverty line. In this, Noble unfortunately regurgitates a White Saviour complex that ought to have disappeared from cinema a long time ago. Vietnamese characters become cartoons of themselves, the children smiling joyously with little mention of their history or the reasons for their disposition. Noble is the only figure with a degree of depth. Here, the propagandistic element is found. The film is more a celebration of one person than a fitting testament to her achievements. One is left to ponder what could have been an inspirational bit of a cinema, a story told well. 2015-05-29T22:26:45.000Z Frame by Frame: Film review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/frame-by-frame-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/frame-by-frame-film-review/ Director: Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli 5/5  In Afghanistan, there is an entire generation with no photographic record. It is a blank space in the life of a country forever at the apex of conflict between domineering powers. It was from within, however, that the country was robbed of a cultural history. The Taliban banned photography of all kinds during their hold on the nation. Frame by Frame, directed and shot by Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli, is the story of a new class freed from their former jailers and trying passionately to construct a viable past. With a wonderful eye for capturing faces and scenes of beauty laid against waste, Bombach and Scarpelli follow four Afghani photojournalists and their projects. Some appear at the scene of a latest suicide attack, others explore old territory. One has been there all along, fighting for a day when he can perform his delicate task without fear of retribution. Frame by Frame is, at its heart, an uncomplicated reaffirmation of the inherent power that journalism possess. Cynics have long ago forgotten that knowledge can be liberation. The still and moving image will always retain its ability to arrest and alert. Most famous of the engaging cast of photographers is Massoud Hossaini, now working for the Associated Press. Central to his story is the image that won him a Pulitzer Prize in 2011: a girl in virulent green with mouth agape after a bomb attack, silently screaming as the bodies of other children lie bloodied about her. Hossaini is conflicted by his prize-winning status. In a mournful coda, he returns to the photographed girl’s home and sits patiently with her parents. No success is worth the price of having a mother say “Every year our wounds get fresher”. Najibullah Musafar is the old hand, the patriarch. Gentle and bearded, he was embedded with the Northern Alliance when bitter battles were fought against the Taliban throughout the 90s. His grainy images surveyed a genocide on the verdant hillsides and the parched valleys. Now, with some promise of protection that a free press can award itself, he teaches at his own photography school in Kabul. The most affecting line of the documentary is spoken by him: “A country without photographs is a country without identity,” he says with passion. This is no throwaway comment but a mantra by which he lives. Also featured is Wakil Kohsar – a young man with an intensity of presence that fills the screen. Devout and devoted, he crunches under bridges to interview and photograph heroin addicts using amongst piles of rubbish. With a newfound independence, he returns to the village of his birth and encounters a man affectionately called “Uncle”. Disaffection with the government in Kabul is rife. They don’t represent me, Uncle intones before Wakil captures him grinning with his fingers ink-stained, clutching a voting card. Most touching of all is Farzana Wahidy (also Hossaini’s wife) and her drive to document the plight of Afghan women. For them, even after the overthrow of the Taliban, cultural norms dictate lives in a double shadow – under the veil, and far from public view. In a bid to photograph what are euphemistically called “self immolations”, Farzana travels to Herat and confronts a doctor at the local hospital’s burns unit. She is forbidden from taking pictures for fear of Taliban retribution. Her dejection is visible. She is able to capture one young woman, however. With tears clouding the viewfinder, Farzana observes her embroidering cloth with deeply scarred hands. We never see her face, of course, but her exposed chest gives some hint of what happened when her husband’s father poured petrol over and allowed her child to stand screaming aside as she caught alight. Farzana carries so much of the film’s brightness. She grins gently when she gets the desired shot and flashes an indignant eye when men of authority seek to disturb her work. In many ways, she is also the film’s hope: that women can gain some degree of autonomy for the first time both behind the camera, and in front of it. The filmmakers share the hope of their cast. For this reason, there is no analysis or indictment of whatever force that decided to hold its sway over Afghanistan. They take it as red that with the Taliban gone, there can be something decent after all. Frame by Frame is an emotional gut-punch of a film that shies away from nothing. If photography in Afghanistan provides a cultural identity, let this documentary be considered a testament to the drive, commitment, and innate desire of a better and more complete future.Frame by Frame is showing at the Documentary Edge Festival.  2015-05-24T21:50:19.000Z (T)error: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/t-error-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/t-error-film-review/ Director: Lryic R Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe 4/5 The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a long history of entrapping suspects, prodding and testing them into something resembling criminal behaviour. Post 9/11, what had been an occasional tactic became the central ploy for hooking and conning idealistic young Muslims. The roster of informants blossomed, and with it the risk of indicting innocent citizens. Saeed (codename ‘Shariff’) is one of the few informants who lived through the heyday of COINTELPRO – the often illegal programme of infiltration into perceived extremist elements ranging from the KKK to the Black Panthers. Now used for his Islamic faith rather than his skin colour, Saeed goes undercover with the disaffected and the religiously indoctrinated, working to see potential jihadis laid low at the feet of American justice. Lyric R Cabral, a celebrated photojournalist, used to be Saeed’s neighbour and kept knowledge of his FBI involvement in her back pocket until David Felix Sutcliffe entered the scene. From there, the pair began documenting Saeed’s missions, often with a startling level of access to what would otherwise be highly confidential information. In (T)error, Khalifah is the target – a plump and pale Pennsylvanian notable for an unruly ginger beard cut in the style of a cleric and a preference for jet-fuel-can’t-melt-steel-beams-style conspiracy theories regularly posted to Facebook. A few scribbled defences of Osama Bin Laden and a short shooting range clip bring Khalifah to the attention of the authorities. Facebook posts do not a prosecution case make, and Saeed is roped in to push him over the line. The film’s central tensions are structural: an unknown story in which thriller-esque twists pirouette the viewer through doubt and disbelief to outrange. With one eye constantly on Saeed (whose lips are never far away from a brown-papered joint), the FBI’s bungling drive to nail Khalifah are put on show with startling clarity. Phone numbers are reused from previous operations, co-informants are roped in with the slimmest of cover. Online interactions are preferred as evidence over ‘real world’ interactions. Their aggressive approach instantly alerts their target. What makes (T)error remarkable is not just the under-the-covers look at the domestic War on Terror, but its honesty in confronting its subjects. It could have been a tedious and polemical examination of the FBI’s tactics. Instead, human stories and human emotions are emphasised. The viewer’s allegiances are not easily forged, no matter their political outlook. The documentary’s depth is also notable. Quietly simmering below the surface is an economic angle which inevitably must play a role in any film about modern America. Saeed, it seems, doesn’t really want to be an informant but takes on the lucrative work to support his young son. A subtle irony is exposed: Could Saeed be forced into making foolish decisions in his chase for much-needed cash? If so, the entrapper becomes the entrapped. Despite Saeed’s operation being reported as an apparent success in friendly media outlets, (T)error shows that the reality of law enforcement and justice today is far more complex and troubling than a propagandistic and patriotic paragraph. (T)error is showing at the Documentary Edge Festival.  2015-05-24T21:47:54.000Z Darren Bevan: Poltergeist, Spy https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-poltergeist-spy/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-poltergeist-spy/ Melissa McCarthy goes undercover in SPY. Darren’s verdict: A Cautious Rush to see it Full review here http://darrens-world-of-entertainment.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/spy-film-review.html Poltergeist is back. Darren’s verdict: Wait for DVD Full review here http://darrens-world-of-entertainment.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/poltergeist-film-review.html Also, The Imitation Game: http://darrens-world-of-entertainment.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/the-imitation-game-movie-review.html For all Darren's reviews and info go to Darren's blog  http://www.darrens-world-of-entertainment.blogspot.co.nz/ 2015-05-22T21:52:05.000Z Slow West: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/slow-west-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/slow-west-film-review/ Director: John Maclean Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ben Mendelsohn 4/5 Slow West bristles with black comedy and muffled grunts, fur-coated baddies and violence ever near. As always in the uncharted heart of new America, there’s no telling what anyone’s motives are. Shot in New Zealand’s Mackenzie Country, Slow West brings a curious European sensibility to a long history of macho muscle-flexing Westerns. Although it might feature all the standards of the genre –WANTED posters, stubby cigars, isolated general stores – it subverts them all with a hint of wit. Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a chasing his runaway love Rose (the beautiful Caren Pistorius) from the shores of Scotland. Alone and roving, he encounters Silas (Michael Fassbender) and takes on his protection, naïve to what his new accomplice might be using him for. Jay’s trusting nature and desire to reach his old flame could be his undoing. Through the open stretches and expanses they trek, encountering a diverse range of reckless types trying to make their own way in a ‘fresh’ land. Free Congolese musicians riffing on a dirt road. A Scandinavian robber and his near-albino children. The uprooting of Native American cultures provides a minor though important backdrop. Manifest Destiny is the philosophy, and an early encounter with genocidal Union soldiers is a very clear indication of this. Upstaging almost everyone is the brilliant Ben Mendelsohn as Payne – a kind of deranged gangster with a grubby disposition and a cat-like characteristic which hints that he might do serious damage at any point. Writer and director John Maclean has created a wonderfully succinct film on debut. Slow West has a very careful rhythm and poise. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan illuminates each character in a crystalline light and captures the other-worldly beauty of the rural South Island. It’s barely believable as an analogue for 19th century Colorado, but that’s partly the point. Some viewers might find the emotional distance between lead characters frustrating. Jay and Silas aren’t roadtrip buddies but necessary comrades. However this lack chimes well with Maclean’s overall tone of menace and lawlessness – a dream-like hinterland where desperate and irrational passions find their due. 2015-05-22T05:01:51.000Z Night Will Fall: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/night-will-fall-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/night-will-fall-film-review/ Director: Andre Singer 4/5 There are many theories as to why the forthrightly-titled documentary German Concentration Camps Factual Survey never made it to cinema. Or, indeed, why it never made it to the cutting room. Some argue that rebuilding Germany and its morale after 1945 might’ve been squandered by such a brutally confronting film. Others insist Zionism, at the time troubling the territory of British Mandate Palestine, had a role to play. Shut down the troublemakers at home lest we encourage our new troublemakers overseas. Resigned to attract dust in an archive, the picture produced by Sidney Bernstein and bearing the great name of Hitchcock himself never found the audience that would have been so immediately moved by its central message, and not by any political consequence. That message is succinctly put in the film’s original script: “Unless the world learns the lesson these pictures teach, night will fall.” Night Will Fall, however, is not the completed documentary eventually pulled together by the Imperial War Museum, but a contemporary explainer to chart how it was made, and give voice to those involved. The film explores how, with some footage from the original reels, cameramen of the Allied forces were thrown suddenly from the quotidian nature of their role into something far more necessary: documenting the liberation of the death camps where Hitler had tried his best to dispose of the Fatherland’s human detritus. Here are the bulldozers first staffed by British soldiers and then captured German officers piling victims into nameless graves. Here are the gaunt and starved survivors too weak to comprehend their liberation. Here are the citizens of nearby towns paraded between the gates to rightly expose their ignorance and compliance. Some survivors are interviewed, including Branko Lustig who produced Schindler’s List. So too is an editor tasked with processing film sent back form Dachau. “It was like looking into the most appalling hell,” he says as the images roll through in negative – a more horrible reimaging, if it were possible. Perhaps most moving of all is footage which shows “the healing process”. A young boy smiling as he turns up the collar of a new shirt. The women, arm-in-arm, out for a walk in a nearby forest. The slim pyjama-clad inmates being unloaded into a warehouse bearing the name ‘Harrods’ before emerging on the side as something resembling a human being again. Because German Concentration Camps Factual Survey itself is unlikely to receive a wide release, Night Will Fall is the closest many will come to seeing it. For this, and for exploring a forgotten history, it is a necessary and worthy addition to the canon of Holocaust films.    Night Will Fall is showing at the Documentary Edge Festival.  2015-05-22T03:05:43.000Z The Forecaster: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/the-forecaster-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/the-forecaster-film-review/ Director: Marcus Vetter, Karin Steinberger 2/5 In a dank and colourless hotel room Martin Armstrong looks on as a fortune teller peddles his folly. “You are not lucky with politicians, soldiers, police,” he intones with customary endearment. A fitting prediction, though hardly surprising given Armstrong’s propensity for run-ins with the major banks that see him as a threat to their order, and the authorities that protect that order. Infamous and ambitious, he will likely encounter them once more. A coin collector and historian from early age, Armstrong used his education to build computer models drawn from near-ancient financial data. With a sought-after tool, Armstrong begins to plot trends and patterns in the markets. Writer/directors Marcus Vetter and Karin Steinberger insist that when ‘The Forecaster’ predicts a major boom, it happens. When things go bust, everyone loses out. Everything turns in cycles, and what goes up must eventually come down. Clients sing his praises. A visionary, they call him. This bedraggled and dyed American seems to possess the most envious of skills. Part conspiracy-thriller, part miscarriage of justice tale, this documentary falls apart when it begins to lay claim to plots and foils far outside the realm of believability. Armstrong was jailed in 1999 by US regulators. He would eventually serve more than 11 years behind bars after a plea deal was reached. They alleged an immense Ponzi Scheme and perhaps this really was the case. However, Armstrong’s contention is far more sinister. Scrawling an immense spiderweb on cheap paper, he unravels an unsubstantiated conspiracy to put him away while Wall Street types (who apparently run the government) rifle through his pockets looking for his industry secrets. Things get more extravagant when Russian President Vladimir Putin enters the frame. His rise to power was “engineered” to ensure a safe hand at the wheel of a major oil-producing nation. Without evidence and sufficient explanation, the film’s appeal as a thriller is lost. Good thrillers don’t string you along. The best thrillers are believable no matter the outlandish claims made. The Forecaster does share some characteristics with a particular brand of post-2008 Great Recession filmmaking that includes Inside Job and Too Big to Fail. But in reality, the 2009 picture Collapse is more of a touchstone. Martin Ruppert, that film’s surprising star, is in many ways an analogue of Martin Armstrong. Both are defeated men beaten down by the powers that be, hollering from a soap box that the end is nigh. As a character portrait alone, The Forecaster might’ve succeeded. Indeed interviews with Armstrong’s mother and other relatives are the beating heart, telling of their desperate wranglings with the justice system. But there isn’t enough of this fuel to run a behemoth ship which makes self-aggrandising claims for itself. More moderation and consideration might’ve been wise. The Forecaster is showing at the Documentary Edge Festival.  2015-05-22T03:01:17.000Z The Yes Men are Revolting: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/the-yes-men-are-revolting-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/the-yes-men-are-revolting-film-review/ Director:  Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno 2/5 There’s a moment around the middle of The Yes Men are Revolting, where one of the two main organisers of the activist group questions whether there is any point in continuing. A satirical action aimed at influencing the Copenhagen climate talks has failed to make any meaningful impact, and the meetings end with no agreement on emmissions reduction. The question of why The Yes Men perform their stunts, where they dress as representatives of governments, lobby groups, oil companies and host faux press conferences, is an existential thread which runs through the entire film. It is a question that is never satisfactorally answered. Like an activist answer to James Bond, the documentary proceeds through a series of action sequences in disparate locations that are tied together only by the titular characters. The tone of the documentary is both knowingly self-referential, and self-indulgent. In lulls between stunts, there is much dwelling on the relationship between Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos, and how their real lives spill over into the existence of their aliases Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. Cameras are everywhere, and no matter how implausable their assumed identities, the audiences are always shown as gullible, taken in by the suits and powerpoint presentations. The sequences however come across as heavily and selectively edited, which damages the credibility of the project. Unconvincing and lacking punch, the sense is less anarchic improvisational satire, and more amateur theatre. The film seems to unwittingly stumble across an uncomfortable answer – that the activism is largely for personal satisfaction. They have Done Something. Success is measured in media mentions. The inadequacy of this outcome is awknowledged by the filmmakers, but never truly addressed. It’s the third documentary outing from The Yes Men, and feels like an exercise in brand protection, in a way that their first did not. Shoehorned into the final scenes are a series of uplifting platitudes about being part of a wider movement, followed by a plug for an activism crowdsourcing website over the closing credits. It may be an unfair criticism to make. The film is not, after all, named after the issues being covered, it is named after the group themselves. It’s essentially a showreel of different protests they have worked on, interspersed with brief cartoon montages that elucidate on the various issues at hand. The arguments behind the campaign of the film - to promote large scale adoption of renewable energy and cuts to emmissions - are undeniably solid. When the film is at its best, this message comes through from the images of flood devastated villages of Uganda, or the hellish tar sand extraction fields in Canada, and the stories of the people who have no choice but to live there. Unfortunately, most of the film does not work. With an overuse of the personal stories of the two main characters, the documentary devolves into a meta mess. Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos wonder aloud why they bother continuing with The Yes Men as a project. On the evidence of this film, it becomes hard to disagree.   The Yes Men are Revolting is showing at the Documentary Edge Festival.   2015-05-19T12:12:32.927Z See No Evil: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/see-no-evil-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/see-no-evil-film-review/ Director: Jos de Putter 3/5 Using “poetic” as an adjective in criticism can sometimes be code for something outright pretentious. Or it can be pretentious to use. However for Jos de Putter’s documentary See No Evil, it just might be appropriate. The Dutch filmmaker’s quiet and disquieting examination of retired apes contains almost no exposition at all. There is no voiceover, and no acknowledgement of the apes’ history aside from a few glimpses at archived footage. Split into three chapters and an epilogue, de Putter trains a very controlled lens on the animals, examining their features and body language, conferring upon them something resembling or nearing human characteristics. Cheeta is the last surviving and most famous ape-actor from the Tarzan movies produced from the 1930s onwards. At least this is what the film portrays. But a cautionary glimpse elsewhere alleges that Cheeta’s original owner perpetrated an immense fraud by pretending the ape was a heavyweight star – despite never appearing in any Tarzan flick. Nevertheless, we encounter Cheeta as a celebrity in retirement, waited upon with cake and beer on his (allegedly) 80th birthday. He spoons porridge and dabs his mouth with a serviette. He gives the ape equivalent of loveable hugs and has his “Abstract” paintings hawked for thousands of dollars. His owner looks on approvingly while Cheeta ‘plays’ the piano. A chimp toying at real life, though the world that is created around him – of artifice and the trappings of human traits – are fictional. Kanzi, on the other hand, has edged the closest to attaining a genuine human characteristic – speech. Like Koko the gorilla (who can sign 1000 words) Kanzi can clearly understand English and responds by palming an enormous touch screen. Here we edge a little closer to what defines Homo sapiens above other animals. Her interactions are joyous to watch. With Knuckles, however, we begin to understand de Putter’s message (if indeed he has one). Clearly deformed and dilapidated, Knuckles shuffles alone through a forest as archive footage is shown. In the golden age of space exploration, monkeys bore the brunt of experimentation. Crash tests, launch tests, orbit tests. Unlike poor Laika – the Russian stray dog jettisoned into the atmosphere – Knuckles survived whatever was inflicted upon him. The epilogue implores for pity. Knuckles pauses at a point in the dirt path littered with crosses bearing the names of, presumably, other apes sacrificed at the altar of human progress. In a touching moment de Putter thankfully doesn’t craft the scene with heavy hands. This isn’t a polemic, nor is the central moral ostentatious. Rather, it asks a subtle question: Could human beings have advanced just a little further, and little higher, if we’d dared to care about the animals despatched during our ascendancy?    See No Evil is showing at the Documentary Edge Festival.  2015-05-19T11:57:18.037Z War of Lies: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/war-of-lies-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/war-of-lies-film-review/ Director: Matthais Bittner 3/5 An Iraqi defector named Rafed Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi (codename ‘Curveball’) rests his elbows on the steel table. All of the indignancy that animated him throughout the film vanishes. He stares at the off-screen interrogator, considering the question. “When you see the chaos and your destroyed homeland,” the disembodied voice of writer and director Matthais Bittner asks, “are you ashamed of your lie?” “Should I be honest?” Rafed replies. “Yes.” War of Lies is the tense retelling of an informant’s dishonesty and whether one man ought to shoulder the guilt for a liberation turned catastrophe. Curveball’s mostly falsified evidence – that Saddam Hussein was still manufacturing chemical and biological weapons until the early 2000s – would become the central jigsaw puzzle piece which tied together the case for the 2003 intervention in Iraq. The information would appear in 112 US reports on Iraq, and famously in Colin Powell’s February 2003 address to the UN. The British government would ignore David Kay’s insistence of inconsistencies in the story. At its heart, this documentary has all the mystery and motive of John Le Carre’s best literary work, though with very tangible real-world consequences. The film’s central interview is spliced between point-of-view re-enactments which push the story forward. In these handheld set-pieces each character is given a name but no face. Rafed’s wife is never seen. The asylum officers and intelligence agents are simply shirtsleeves or shadowy spectres. When Rafed begins to fear Baathist death squads want him dead, paranoia sets in.  The breathing behind the camera becomes shallower. Curtains are peered through as black-hatted silhouettes patrol orange-lit streets. Brittner’s technique is a welcome relief from the typical talking-head documentary format. The endless exposition is disappeared and replaced with near-silent scenes rendered taught with suspense. Swapping between interviews, set-pieces, and occasional news bulletin montages, the story unravels. Rafed, arriving as a defector in Germany in 1999, gets ‘carrot and stick’ from the asylum office. Stowed away with eight other migrants, the protagonist receives no special treatment until he mentions his degree in chemical engineering from a Baghdad University. The ‘stick’ very quickly becomes a ‘carrot’. Rafed is bumped up to rooms all to himself. He divulges more falsehoods about various chemical plants which leads to an apartment upgrade. Once the UN inspectors show up at the plant and find nothing to corroborate the tale, Rafed recycles Saddam’s notorious reputation for cat-and-mouse concealment tactics. The chemicals and biological weapons facility is actually mobile, he claims, spread across three trucks. They’re able to disappear into the desert whenever needed. (It should be noted that Rafed is not far from the mark: Saddam buried entire squadrons of fighter jets in sand dunes to avoid inspectors’ sanctions, and ordered an entire nuclear warehouse bulldozed and rebuilt with a few days. As always, he got his wish.) Those infamous roving labs later become central to the American case for regime change in Iraq. Most remarkably the Americans, not long after the invasion, ‘produced’ two of three non-existent trucks. Rafed’s deception is complete. However, having Curveball on camera – all toothy grins and gesticulation – allows for the other end of the moral equation which Bittner seems entirely reluctant to include. Rafed very early on highlights two important points often lost in the prevailing anti-war narrative (Bittner’s clear ideological base): that Saddam Hussein and his quarter-decade regime needed to be ended, and war was going to inevitable because of it. When Bittner confronts Rafed with the images of a bloodied child after Saddam’s downfall, he delivers his own return serve. What about the horrible necessity of sanctions, and corrupt oil-for-food programme? What about Halabja in 1988, where 5000 civilians were gassed to death in a single afternoon? He goes further, arguing that for the Iraqi diaspora, there was always going to be a price for a tyranny overthrown. This arrives closer to the single largest problem of War of Lies. Under a different title (perhaps Culture of Lies?) Bittner might’ve have turned his eye on just why the Germans, the Americans, and the British entertained Rafed’s fantasies for so long. The questions dangle unattended: Why use a fantasy as the cornerstone for an action which was justifiable without it? Was Curveball’s evidence simply the trigger on what was already a plan in action? Was it post-hoc justification? The depth and breadth of the intelligence community’s failure goes untroubled because Bittner, it seems, wants to see Rafed squirm. He wants Curveball humiliated in the public eye. He could’ve succeeded, too. Bittner, for most of what is an otherwise gripping film, keeps dealing out more and more rope which Rafed can hang himself with. But by pushing an Iraqi defector into a sensitive area, the director’s prejudice is exposed. Go and live for a day under Saddam’s regime, Rafed implies, and tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing.   War of Lies is showing at the Documentary Edge Festival.  2015-05-19T11:54:46.287Z Mad Max - Fury Road: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/mad-max-fury-road-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/mad-max-fury-road-film-review/ Director: George Miller Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley  4.5/5   Mad Max fans can rest assured. This latest iteration in the iconic series does justice to the original vision, rather than being a Hollywood cash cow reboot a la Robocop and Total Recall. A catch-cry of internet message boards for months has been “the trailer gives away all the good bits!” That can be said of Fury Road, for sure, which also falls into the recent trend of revealing the climatic shot of the final big set piece – but it’s all about seeing the way the jigsaw slots together. The trailer has given you the corner and edge pieces, but it’s not until you’ve done the whole 5000 that you can see and appreciate what he’s achieved. And boy oh boy what a ride it is. A good 90 percent of the film is high-speed vehicular carnage where the cars are as big a character as the actors driving them. You’ve got the wickedly spiked dune buggy clones which steal the show in the trailer, The Gigahorse, a pair of 1959 de Villes mounted on top of each other, even some homages to previous Mad Max titles with a re-appropriated Interceptor, a 70s Valiant and a twist on Mack from Mad Max 2. George Miller’s work has always been about pushing things to new peaks, accelerating (forgive the pun) the development of new methods. He shies away from that a little in Fury Road – a lot of the shots are more “traditional” but even that phrase is something of a misnomer given Miller set the standard for some of those iconic shots we expect in chases nowadays – side mounted cameras and the like. Another part of Miller’s essence comes to the fore in Fury Road in Charlize Theron’s character Imperator Furiosa – a strong non-romantic female lead. While this film may have Max’s name on the poster, it’s largely Furiosa’s show. She knicks off with the big bad guy’s harem, piloting a big rig across the desert in search of the memory of an idyllic paradise where they’ll be safe from harm. But along the way she does a lot of ass-kicking and racks up a pretty sweet kill-death ratio as she takes out a tonne of the vehicles sent to return the bad dude’s brides. And then there’s the interesting story of the War Boys. A fanatical cult-like group, the War Boys worship prime big bad guy Immortan Joe (played by the same dude who was Mad Max’s prime big bad guy, Toecutter, 36 years ago). Their main conduit throughout the film is Nux, who is on death’s door when we first meet him and having a blood transfusion with Max. He takes on a role as a secondary character, but is as much a part of the overall movie as Furiosa and Max. Somewhat disappointing was the lack of development of Immortan Joe and his counterparts from the appropriately named Bullet Farm and Gastown, who head the pack chasing our fugitives. Joe’s motive (rescuing the women he claims ownership of) is clear – but his backstory isn’t really sufficiently explained in any capacity which fleshes him out to be anything but a forboding figure. Less clear is the reason the leaders of the other two groups continue to pursue Max and his group even as their losses stack higher and higher. The soundtrack in this film is phenomenal. It ratchets up the tension and drama in all the right places, mostly just with the use of taiko drums and electric guitar, and it all fits in seamlessly thanks to the forsight of Miller to include the aptly-named “Doof Wagon” – essentially a Big Day Out side-stage mounted on the top of a supercharged V8 truck which plays music to pump up the War Boys in the heat of battle. It’s superbly done, especially  during the climatic fight scene where some choice choreography syncs up with the music for a long, long period of time. Fury Road delivers on so much promise, in so many ways, and is a truly beautiful and fantastic film. 2015-05-14T17:16:18.040Z Testament of Youth: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/testament-of-youth-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/testament-of-youth-film-review/ Director: James Kent Starring: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harrington, Anna Chancellor, Dominic West 2/5 Vera Brittain’s account of her time as nurse in trench-gouged France sits easily alongside other literature of the First World War, including the poetry of Wilfrid Owen, and Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. Juliette Towhidi’s adaptation of Testament of Youth (directed by James Kent) however doesn’t quite speak to Brittain’s depth and anger. It doesn’t quite reach the same polemical fury that such a conflict would inevitably produce. Brittain is played by the excellent Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, Anna Karenina), who conceals her Scandinavian tones in a cut-glass English melody. Furious at her father (a staunch Dominic West) for denying her the chance to attend Oxford like her brothers, Brittain’s resolve and drive is in rightfully denying authority. From there, she abandons her hard-won success in those hallowed halls and enlists as a nurse when the war breaks out. Later, she is transferred to France with the terrifying prospect that she might see her beloved comrades among the legion of dead. While her proto-feminist leanings are admirably portrayed, Brittain’s romance with Roland Leighton (Kit Harrington of Game of Thrones) proves to be the film’s undoing. Harrington, despite some dubious roles, is actually quite good. He plays Roland with an air of conviction, then of regret. But the chaste embraces and snatched passions between the central pair mirror an altogether restrained and pure understanding of history, in which all gore is removed. Only the depths of grief remain, entirely divorced from the horrible context. Cinematographer Rob Hardy and director James Kent keep one eye on Vikander’s shimmering porcelain face, the other on a slightly removed and restrained perspective. The result is a very traditional and rather reverential take on a period drama, in what would otherwise be a shocking and radical tale. Testament of Youth, despite the best of intentions, is far too polite, far too commemorative. Its adoration and celebration of Brittain is wholly unironic, and so ignores Wilfrid Owen’s famous dig at the upper-class delusion: Dolce et decorum est, pro patria mori.  2015-04-23T21:23:19.820Z Avengers - Age of Ultron: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/avengers-age-of-ultron-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/avengers-age-of-ultron-film-review/ Director: Joss Whedon Starring: Robert Downy Jr, Scarlett Johanson, James Spader, Chris Hemsworth 3/5 Marvel’s expanded film canon, with its various offshoots and appendages, walks a tightrope: keep the black-comic popcorn-chewing action of its comic book heritage, or risk falling endlessly into silliness and absurdity. With the second Avengers instalment Age of Ultron, that tightrope has never looked thinner. But somehow mega-nerd director Joss Whedon and a generally impeccable cast hold the set-piece together. The gang are back, saving the world again with unabashed heroism. Much-loved characters make their return (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America et al) to combat the forces of alien evil. This time the trouble is self-made. Tony Stark’s attempt to create an artificial intelligence peacekeeping force goes horribly wrong, resulting in the robotic demon Ultron unleashing his plans for global annihilation. I’ve always maintained that Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! has the best ensemble cast of all time. But Age of Ultron somewhat challenges that. It features, in no particular order: Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Andy Serkis, Paul Bettany, and Stellan Skarsgard among various other well-known names slotted into smaller roles. As one would expect, these names give gravitas (in varying degrees) to a film which might otherwise fall apart entirely without decent credentials. But there is no standout, no character to which the actor can add anything more than basic believability. Mind you, in a superhero film this isn’t exactly easy. Director Joss Whedon attempts to flesh out as many of the characters as he possibly can. With a full roster, this feat teeters on the brink of impossibility. Whedon claimed juggling so many perspectives and arcs was “as tough as anything I’ve ever done.” Somehow, he succeeds. Both Banner and Romanov (Hulk and Black Widow) are given somewhat comprehensive histories, and their lingering romance proves to be one of a few flickers of emotion in the film. Surprisingly, Hawkeye has been given an added dimension and a number of self-referential quips about his bow and arrow. This is perhaps Whedon’s most worthy attribute – to turn sardonic comic book movies away from the drudging seriousness of rival houses (Man of Steel, anyone?). As always in Marvel’s latest reincarnation as purveyor of wide-eyed popcorn entertainment, there is a more complex and cerebral undertone to the regular crash-bang proceedings. In the initial Iron Man offering, the subtext tackled Tony Stark’s job as an arms dealer and the karma which came around to bite him. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier the catchphrases of recent debates on state spying and surveillance appeared. In Age of Ultron, there is an unmistakeable nod towards British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s now-ironic “peace for our time” quip after making a deal with Hitler. The film repeats the regular misquote of “peace in our time”, but there are some undeniable references to the Second World War. The villain is obsessed with human purity (despite not being human), and a sense of some injustice done against him in the past. There are allusions to the creation of Nietzsche’s Ubermensch (literally, ‘Superman’) and a motive which involved the evolution of select few at the expense of a great many: Nazism’s ideas of social Darwinism at work. Not only that, there are snatched discussions of the danger of both pre-emptive wars and the appeasement of a hostile enemy. These quick nods to a wider political and historical context certainly gives a bit of muscle to what would otherwise be a very flabby treat indeed. As always, the use of 3D is entirely pointless. It adds nothing except perhaps a symmetry between sore eyes and a numb posterior. The CGI, on the other hand, is more than impressive and could do without the backhanded insult that 3D provides. Age of Ultron occasionally falls into Michael Bay-style dazzles of digital confusion. What made the original Iron Man instalment so enjoyable was its simplicity and jet-fighter aerodynamics. Here, the tendency for a visual titillation is replaced with sudden almighty clobbers of carnage. Everywhere else, it’s technicolour whizz-pop-bang-splat fun. Cartoonish fun occasionally mired by confusion and heavy padding, but fun all the same.  2015-04-23T21:19:38.570Z Darren Bevan: Big Hero 6, Nightcrawler https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-big-hero-6-nightcrawler/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/darren-bevan-big-hero-6-nightcrawler/ Darren Bevan reviews 'Big Hero 6', 'Nightcrawler' as well as 'Alexander and the No Good, Very Bad, Terrible Day'. 2015-04-20T08:21:01.553Z The Age of Adaline: Film Review https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/the-age-of-adaline-film-review/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/movies/the-age-of-adaline-film-review/ Director: Lee Toland Krieger Starring: Blake Lively, Harrison Ford, Michael Huissman, Ellen Burstyn 2/5 Adaline Bowman (played by Blake Lively of Gossip Girl fame) is a lucky girl: incredibly beautiful and possessed of the undeniable advantage of never getting a day older. She is immortal, preserved in the prime of her youth. But rather than spend her limitless time wisely, she falls into a kind of awful vanity – chasing men who she will always outlast. Guided by an intrusive and condescending voiceover, the invented physiology of Adaline’s condition is explained: Car accident. Hypothermia. Lightning strike. Rather than perish in dull ditchwater, she instead drinks from the fountain of youth. Once chased by shadowy agents in trenchcoats during the 1950s, Adaline lives in a kind of hermit otherworld of nostalgia. Kept company by an adorable dog, draped in the finery of decades gone by, and inhabiting a sprawling Art Deco apartment in San Francisco, the only plus-side of living forever seems to be a devotion to understated materialism. In fact, Lively’s lavish costumes are the unacknowledged selling-points of the film. Look at a beautiful woman prancing about in flowing skirts and plunging ball gowns! But even then, director Lee Toland Krieger and cinematographer David Lanzenberg (who shot the disaster that was The Signal) together cannot conjure any image which either impresses or startles. Adaline’s principle problem seems to be men. She can’t keep them for obvious reasons. One imagines she’s mastered the art of the one-night stand. That seems to be the case when she first meets Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman in a constantly ill-fitting suit). She turns him down straight, before indulging in some kind of frolic on his over-sized couch and then in his over-sized bed. Our title character dallies and tarries and deliberates, and by virtue of the quintessential Hollywood formula, falls head-over-hells for the bearded philanthropist. This is no spoiler – this film prides itself on being as obvious and expositionary as possible. By the time Harrison Ford appears as Ellis’ kindly father, the thinly-veiled conceit is plain to see. Tasked with digitising an old film archive at the library where she works, Adaline stares pensively through the newsreels of history. This is the closest the film ever gets to engaging with world events. Instead of her lengthy and undying experience shaping her outlook, Adaline looks at the past with nothing more than vague annoyance at having to pack up and move so often to protect her identity. Adaline’s relationship with her daughter (played by Cate Richardson in youth and Ellen Burstyn in old age) is the film’s sole glimpse of salvation in an otherwise overbearing sea of pomposity and pith. Their interactions are tinged with a genuine air of sadness and tragedy, finally hinting at what ought to have been the project’s central premise: What happens in the mind of the immortal when everything once loved eventually disappears? Rather than attack this messy and interesting question, the screenplay avoids anything which does not fit the narrow mould of the average box-office romance tale. This turns out to be The Age of Adaline’s main deficiency: far too much sickly pashing, and not nearly enough heartfelt consideration.    The Age of Adaline is in cinemas now.  2015-04-16T13:35:48.203Z