Disney's been doing live-action reinventions of a bunch of its films lately - mostly the better-known ones (along the lines of Jungle Book, Cindarella and Malificent). But "Pete's Dragon" falls more into the obscure line of Disney's back catalogue - the original is a pretty mixed bag, with a delightful animated dragon but an overstuffed plot with two sets of villains competing for screentime in a film that never quite settles on a consistent tone. This redo throws out the villains and the 1900s setting and brings it back to basics - a boy, a dragon, and what happens when the boy finds himself back in the world outside.
David Lowery's direction exactly captures the tone of gentle wonder - his Pete (Oakes Fegley) is a reserved, confused kid whose enjoyment of his wilderness lifestyle is contagious, and whose curiosity when he bumps up against other people again is palpable. Bryce Dallas Howard has all the warmth she failed to get in "Jurassic World", and Robert Redford in a smallish role gets the exposition about dragons and a sense of wonder and security that makes this one of the best things I've seen him in too. The closest the film gets to a bad guy is Karl Urban, but even here the film isn't quite prepared to demonise him so much as make him a little misguided.
In short, this is as sweet and fun without being sentimental gludge as a kids film can be. Well worth catching.
Sunday 25 September 2016
Kubo and the Two Strings
Laika Studios has been kicking major goals in the stop-motion animation field in the last couple of years - between "Coraline", "Paranorman" and "The Boxtrolls", they've delivered state of the art stop-motion in stories that are a little bit creepy, a little bit odd, but also a little bit heartwarming. "Kubo" is their latest, using the milleau of feudal Japan in a story of loss, family, adventure and reconciliation.
The production design is, as usual, gorgeous, featuring strange and wonderful sights and beasts in the course of an adventure that roams through a strange world of magic with powerful enemies hunting a young boy, defended only by a Monkey (voiced by Charlize Theron) animated by the dying wish of Kubo's mother and a samurai warrior (McConaghey) who has been converted into a beetle. The story has a few secrets and surprises to unroll, along with several dangerous creatures, but there's an essential charming simplicity about this that keeps it rolling forward. There's a slightly melancholic tone that allows the sorrows and dangers to land solidly while never bogging down into self-induiglence.
In short this is recommended for anyone who enjoys a tale well told - while it features mortality and loss, it ultimately reveals a generous spirit in transcending the sadness of your past while holding onto its values.
Saturday 17 September 2016
Queen of Ireland
A documentary on the Irish drag-queen Panti Bliss who became the forefront of movements for free speech and marriage equality, this is the classic example of a documentary that is more interesting for what it's about than how it's about it - this is pretty rudimentary documentary making. It's presented very much from Panti's perspective, and tells large chunks of the life story, from childhood in an Irish small village to early emergence in Japan, to the return to Ireland and involvement in the Dublin alternative club movements, to suddenly hitting the international stage after a speech on youtube got retweeted by celebrities from Madonna to Stephen Fry.
The problem is, much of this is not quite as fascinating as it should be. Everything feels very skimmed over, resulting in a rather shallow experience. Yes, there is a heroic ending, and yes, Panti can be amusing and witty, but without the detail and complexity, we end up with more of a puff piece than perhaps would be helpful. It's nice, well intentioned work, but it's not essential.
The problem is, much of this is not quite as fascinating as it should be. Everything feels very skimmed over, resulting in a rather shallow experience. Yes, there is a heroic ending, and yes, Panti can be amusing and witty, but without the detail and complexity, we end up with more of a puff piece than perhaps would be helpful. It's nice, well intentioned work, but it's not essential.
Girl Asleep
An awkward teenage story as a girl experiences her dreaded 15th birthday party, "Girl Asleep" has a distinctly low-budget-surrealistic style that works interestingly in a short (77 minute) running time. Publicity has invoked "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Mighty Boosh" but this has a much milder and personal approach than either - there's very little ironic distance from our slightly daggy heroine and her daggier surroundings in what looks very much like a 1970s suburban world.
This does, admittedly, feel more like a long film-school short than a fully fleshed out movie - it's more of a mood piece and less led by logical incident. But there's a gentle charm here that is unusual and worth catching.
This does, admittedly, feel more like a long film-school short than a fully fleshed out movie - it's more of a mood piece and less led by logical incident. But there's a gentle charm here that is unusual and worth catching.
Sunday 11 September 2016
The Secret Life of Pets
Illumination is the Studio That Minions Built. And, indeed, their latest film starts with a Minions short, high on physical comedy, short on logic, with much harmless destruction, fire and nudity. While I prefer my incomprehensible euro-muttering-creatures in the form of Rabid Rabbids, it's a reasonable enough short.
The feature that follows is, alas, generic family movie stuff. Slightly selfish protagonist gets an intruder into his comfortable life and ends up having an adventure in the outside world that bonds them, straight out of Toy Story? Check. Celebrity voices? Check. Lotsa running around and yelling? Check. Character motivations that seem to shift at random? Check. Major property damage? Check.
The character designs are reasonably cute, there are some nice people in the voice cast, but this one doesn't really break any new mould or do anything particularly better than anything you've seen before. Middle of the road.
The feature that follows is, alas, generic family movie stuff. Slightly selfish protagonist gets an intruder into his comfortable life and ends up having an adventure in the outside world that bonds them, straight out of Toy Story? Check. Celebrity voices? Check. Lotsa running around and yelling? Check. Character motivations that seem to shift at random? Check. Major property damage? Check.
The character designs are reasonably cute, there are some nice people in the voice cast, but this one doesn't really break any new mould or do anything particularly better than anything you've seen before. Middle of the road.
Captain Fantastic
This is a bit of an indie-by-numbers, with an ending that is rather transparently bogus. But like most road movies, there are pleasures to be had along the way.
Viggo Mortensen plays the father of six children, who has taken to raising them in the wilderness, outside the structures of society. His child-raising methods are undoubtedly unconventional (all the kids have their own hunting knives, and read everything from "The Brothers Karamazov" to "Lolita"), but they seem tight enough. Until the death of their mother (who has been suffering from a mental illness and has committed suicide) sees them having to return into the wider world to go to her funeral. The roadtrip adventures form the bulk of the film, with the simmering question behind being "should the kids stay like this or not".
Unfortunately the ending kinda squiffs everything in sentimental fluffiness. While there are amusements along the way, the general smugness of insisting that these escapees from society are superior to the rest of the world starts to grate rather a lot, and the film never really faces up to the risks it implies that this living situation creates for the kids, in their physical safety as much as their mental health. It has a certain sentimental cuteness, but in the end there's not a lot more to this.
Viggo Mortensen plays the father of six children, who has taken to raising them in the wilderness, outside the structures of society. His child-raising methods are undoubtedly unconventional (all the kids have their own hunting knives, and read everything from "The Brothers Karamazov" to "Lolita"), but they seem tight enough. Until the death of their mother (who has been suffering from a mental illness and has committed suicide) sees them having to return into the wider world to go to her funeral. The roadtrip adventures form the bulk of the film, with the simmering question behind being "should the kids stay like this or not".
Unfortunately the ending kinda squiffs everything in sentimental fluffiness. While there are amusements along the way, the general smugness of insisting that these escapees from society are superior to the rest of the world starts to grate rather a lot, and the film never really faces up to the risks it implies that this living situation creates for the kids, in their physical safety as much as their mental health. It has a certain sentimental cuteness, but in the end there's not a lot more to this.
Sunday 4 September 2016
Blood Father/Don't Breathe
Hi there. You might remember me as "That Guy who writes about Canberra Theatre". Or maybe not. Most of the people who read the reviews seem to particularly read the ones of shows that they're either in or that friends are in, and that's okay. But part of the point of that exercise is to try to record my thoughts on the theatre I choose to watch and to be, theoretically, a better reviewer. I don't know if I'm succeeding, but some people seem to like 'em.
Anyway, I'm seeing a fair few movies at the moment as well, so I thought I may as well start reviewing movies too. So that's what this blog is for.
First up this weekend is "Blood Father", Mel Gibson's entry in the old-geezer-action-flick genre that got a kick in the arm a few years ago when Liam Neeson's daughter was Taken. In this one, Mel's a recovering alcoholic and ex-con who's reunited with his runaway daughter when she falls afoul of a Mexican drug cartel and needs to go on the lam. Gibson has form as recovering alcoholic and that is reasonably well exploited in his role (though of course Gibson's very specific transgressions aren't gone into, instead making vague references to his character's criminal past), but as a whole this doesn't really do it for me. Despite being in most of the movie, Erin Moriarty's daughter never really becomes fully fleshed or real - she's more an object to be protected rather than a full character, and her tough-life-as-a-runaway-kid is more an informed attribute than something that we get the sense she's actually lived. The film also commits the crime of wasting William H. Macy (his role as Gibson's AA sponsor feels like it has potential but it piddles away into not-very much). Gibson's charisma is still considerable, but there isn't really enough otherwise that brings this up above generic crime-flick cliches.
Second, "Don't Breathe", This is a horror/thriller about three criminals who think they're about to score big by robbing a blind man in a run-down Detroit house. They find out it's a lot more dangerous than they planned. This is pretty effective stuff - no, the three crooks aren't entirely sympathetic, but this exploits very well the sense of how silent the three protagonists have to be if they're going to get away from the house. This is pretty big on the classical unities (small cast, mostly taking place in the one house, over the course of roughly one night), and very effectively immerses the audience in a fair bit of tension. It's wildly exploitative and possibly a little bit tasteless as well, but goddamn if it isn't effective.
Anyway, I'm seeing a fair few movies at the moment as well, so I thought I may as well start reviewing movies too. So that's what this blog is for.
First up this weekend is "Blood Father", Mel Gibson's entry in the old-geezer-action-flick genre that got a kick in the arm a few years ago when Liam Neeson's daughter was Taken. In this one, Mel's a recovering alcoholic and ex-con who's reunited with his runaway daughter when she falls afoul of a Mexican drug cartel and needs to go on the lam. Gibson has form as recovering alcoholic and that is reasonably well exploited in his role (though of course Gibson's very specific transgressions aren't gone into, instead making vague references to his character's criminal past), but as a whole this doesn't really do it for me. Despite being in most of the movie, Erin Moriarty's daughter never really becomes fully fleshed or real - she's more an object to be protected rather than a full character, and her tough-life-as-a-runaway-kid is more an informed attribute than something that we get the sense she's actually lived. The film also commits the crime of wasting William H. Macy (his role as Gibson's AA sponsor feels like it has potential but it piddles away into not-very much). Gibson's charisma is still considerable, but there isn't really enough otherwise that brings this up above generic crime-flick cliches.
Second, "Don't Breathe", This is a horror/thriller about three criminals who think they're about to score big by robbing a blind man in a run-down Detroit house. They find out it's a lot more dangerous than they planned. This is pretty effective stuff - no, the three crooks aren't entirely sympathetic, but this exploits very well the sense of how silent the three protagonists have to be if they're going to get away from the house. This is pretty big on the classical unities (small cast, mostly taking place in the one house, over the course of roughly one night), and very effectively immerses the audience in a fair bit of tension. It's wildly exploitative and possibly a little bit tasteless as well, but goddamn if it isn't effective.
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