The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: Movie Review

Cast: Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Tom Blyth, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis
Director: Francis Lawrence

At a bottom-bursting 2hours and 38 minutes, the Hunger Games prequel proves that bloated isn't always better, in this latest extension of the phenomenally popular Suzanne Collins series.

Set years before Katniss Everdeen brought down the Capitol and Panem, this latest focuses its attention squarely on Coriolanus Snow, the older version of whom was played by Donald Sutherland in the franchise and is embodied by Tom Blyth this time around.

With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow becomes alarmed when he's assigned to mentor Rachel Zegler's Lucy Gray Baird from District 12 in the hope of reigniting the passion of the viewing public whose love of seeing people slaughtered live on TV is slowing.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is yet another exercise in dystopia, but it's also, sadly, an exercise in willpower.

Split into three distinct parts, the film often feels aimless, feels its weight and feels occasionally messy in its final unwanted act. There are also bizarrely distinctly - and perhaps unintentional - Nazi undertones as the blonde-haired Snow mentors the Roma-gypsy-like Baird ahead of the live massacre on TV.  It's an unwanted comparison perhaps, but one that springs uncomfortably to mind as the Taming of the Shrew / Pygmalion protege-mentor relationship progresses.

While Zegler has some presence and brings a different tone than Jennifer Lawrence's more gutsy Katniss, it does occasionally feel like she's silently releasing an album off the back of the film given how many songs she dispatches throughout.

Far more effective in the odd satire about media control and the power of the classes and society, but it feels old hat when compared to the energy and urgency of the original Hunger Games films.

It's also relentlessly dour throughout, with the washed out colours and dulled aesthetics almost blanching out any kind of emotional attachment to any of the proceedings. Sadly most of the 20 or so tributes feel like raced over characters and the idea of feeling anything for them in the slaughter is merely ensconced in the fact they are poorer constructs of people rather than fully-formed individuals.

Far worse is the bloated final third part of the movie which switches into an odd love story and a somehow rushed ending that doesn't entirely give Snow's backstory the edge it needs to propel him into evil. Perhaps Collins' desire to show that even the bad guys had good hearts once wasn't the strongest pull here. (Just ask Disney, who seem determined to endow their best baddies with troubled pasts to varying degrees of apathy in audiences.)

Viola Davis chews the scenery with aplomb and Jason Schwartzman brings life to his presenter, but in truth these are the few highlights that shine in amongst the bloat of the Ballad.

Perhaps splitting the narrative over two leads harmed investment in the characters, and while that may be an issue with the source material, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes can't recover from a fatal flaw that leaves it feeling more like a humourless dirge and a cash-in rather than a full narrative necessity.

Saltburn: Movie Review

Cast: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Alison Oliver, Rosamund Pike, Richard E Grant, Archie Madekwe
Director: Emerald Fennell

With its slick mix of Parasite stylings, elements of the Talented Mr Ripley and shades of Cruel Intentions, Emerald Fennell's blistering follow up to Promising Young Woman is one of the more electric releases in cinemas in 2023.

It's the psychological tale of Oliver Quick (Keoghan, in a truly mesmerising performance), a boy who comes from poor upbringings in the north of England and finds himself accepted to study at the hallowed halls of Oxford University in 2006.

But while he's accepted into the university, he's not accepted into the world that surrounds it, with its cliques and elites. Obsessed with the idea of becoming friends with the permanently popular Felix (Elordi), Oliver suddenly finds an opening to join the in-crowd and seizes it with both hands.

As friendship blossoms, Felix invites Oliver back to their family estate for the summer - but will the poor boy be accepted into the higher societal echelons or will it be a midsummer nightmare as Oliver grapples with the privilege of his position? Is he protege or pet?

Saltburn is a stylish piece of somewhat depraved cinema that leaves you sat bolt upright in your seat as it plays out.

Pulpy and lurid, yet peppered with some black as night one liners over class and perception, Fennell's script is a perhaps over-polished apparent takedown of the upper classes and those who sit on judgement on others. Throw in some homoeroticism and some murkier moments, and it proves to be a potent mix.

But it would be nothing without Keoghan's unbelievably compelling performance throughout. Despite Pike's acerbic one-liners and Grant's self-detachment and delusion as Felix's parents, the camera focus is solely on Keoghan in his first lead role and he seizes it with gusto, switching effortlessly between desperation, ambition, menace and mischief with utter aplomb.

The level of ambiguity is ramped up throughout, and while there are mystery seeds sown through the story, this is really a take on gender, class, society and identity that has its seeds in the outsider-looking-in stories we've seen before.

It may fall foul of Fennell's continued last act desire to explain everything a la Promising Young Woman (a little dramatic ambiguity would not have gone amiss), yet it remains an utterly enthrallingly seductive watch - despite feeling less satirical than one imagines Fennell would have desired.

There's a callous vibe to Saltburn that's utterly contagious, and while it feels mischievous and cold in parts, it's a delicious cinema dish to devour with a final scene that's as memorable as it is ghastly.

Champions: DVD Review

Cast: Woody Harrelson, Kaitlin Olson, Cheech Marin, Ernie Hudson, Kevin Iannucci

Director: Bobby Farrelly

An English language remake of the 2018 Spanish movie Campeones reteams Kingpin star Woody Harrelson and director Bobby Farrelly, Champions is a curious beast.

Aiming more at feelgood, but somehow managing to feel flat in its long duration, this film promises comedy but more often than not, delivers drama for its main actors - and comedy from its disabled cast.

Harrelson is disgraced basketball coach Marcus, who, after a DUI charge, finds himself on community service and tasked with coaching basketball team the Friends, a motley collection of boys with Down Syndrome. Their goal? The Special Olympics...

Following an entirely predictable path, Champions is exactly the kind of underdog story you'd expect from its genre, albeit one with more drama and sensitivity than perhaps you'd expect from a Farrelly brother behind the cameras.

Harrelson is fine as Marcus; in truth, he feels somewhat muted and more grounded in the role, but he gets a decent spark when facing off against on and off again love interest Alex (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Olson), and the pair find a relatable dynamic that works well on screen.

The only problem with Champions is in how underwritten some of the Friends feel.

While Iannucci's Johnny gets the lion's share of the story (thanks to a connection to both Alex and Marcus), the rest of the Friends are left to deliver quirky one-liners and moments that very occasionally feel uneasy but never stray into exploitation. There's dignity in their treatment to be sure, even if not all of them feel fleshed out.

Incredibly, Farrelly treats the whole thing with sensitivity for the most part - any gross out gags are largely left to the sideline and the film greatly benefits from being empathetic to its characters. It does lack some majorly cathartic moments, and one entire sequence involving a Friends player and his boss feels like a squandered moment.

But given the story is about Marcus being told how he needs to get to know people to be a better coach, it somewhat sticks in the craw that this side of the character development is largely confined to only a few members of the Friends - aside from one last third act moment.

Champions aims to be feelgood, and while there's a lot of veracity in its execution, don't be entirely surprised if this sports underdog story and human redemption movie doesn't quite leave you feeling as uplifted as you'd expect.

It's solid, but not spectacular and there's a distinctly nagging feeling that in parts, if developed a bit more strongly, it could have been crowdpleasingly sensational.

Shin Ultraman: DVD Review  

Both insanely bonkers and also dramatically engaging, the wry Shin Ultraman mixes both tongue-in-cheek moments with the slick ideas of a superhero style Kaiju mash up.

When Japan's invaded by yet another marauding beast, it falls to the S-Class Species Suppression Protocol (SSSP) to try and save the day. But as they investigate further, Ultraman's involvement in proceedings sends the subsequent examination into another realm that no-one could have expected.

Wry humour is the key to Shin Ultraman's success - and while the movie may occasionally feel a little bloated in its near two hour run time (particularly in its back half), the script works well to have you invest in characters and their deadpan delivery of almost inane dialogue at times.

Focussing on universal workplace themes such as tension between new work buddies and prospective partners, Shin Ultraman offers as much destruction and carnage as a Marvel movie throws at every conclusion, but ends feeling strangely moving and less hollow than the usual CGI fare.

Shin Ultraman may be controlled and measured sci-fi, but it does loss some impact due to its duration and perhaps an affectation catering more to an audience au fait with the Ultraman series.

Solid effects and a reliance on practical work rather than bloated CGI machinations work ultimately well for Shin Ultraman. However, while it's here for a good time, and an occasionally long time, a little more expeditious editing of Shin Ultraman may have made it a truly impressive and engaging spectacle throughout.

Win a double pass to see Thanksgiving at the movies

To celebrate the release of Eli Roth's Thanksgiving on November 16, thanks to Sony Pictures New Zealand, you can win a double pass.

About Thanksgiving

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Thanksgiving featuring Patrick Dempsey, Gina Gershon, Milo Manheim, Addison Rae, and Rick Hoffman, is in cinemas November 16

Thanksgiving is rated R18 Graphic Violence, offensive language and cruelty.

No Hard Feelings: Blu Ray Review

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence,  Andrew Barth-Feldman, Natalie Morales, Matthew Broderick

Director: Gene Stupnitsky

Jennifer Lawrence's foray into R-rated comedy territory is a bit of a mixed bag.

No Hard Feelings, with its central story of Lawrence's Maddie trying to seduce nerdy Percy (Barth-Feldman) in the hopes of getting paid in the shape of a new car, had real potential to shake up the genre.

But what emerges all too often from the Good Boys director is a script that's tonally adrift, with only fitful moments of belly laughs (the majority of which feature in the film's trailer) scattered through a sentimentally mawkish movie that's been told a thousand times before.

What does work though in this film is Lawrence's committed performance to the comedic moments, and Barth-Feldman's reactions at key moments (his response to a pool ball being hit one of the standouts) occasionally gel to create something that's almost befitting of what it wants to be.

It doesn't help that Lawrence's central character is almost unlikeable in parts, with Maddie either being completely unreasonable or totally off-her-head with anger at the rich people living in her coastal town. While her reasons become a little clearer in the back third of the film, the movie spends an unfeasible amount of time making her seem both abrasive and unintelligent when she's not vamping it up to try oversex her would-be conquest.

There's a kernel of a good idea here though, and that's what's so frustrating in parts in this relatively laugh-free outing. The idea of a 19 year old heading to college and needing to come out of his shell is played more for the predatory angle from both the parents (Broderick, Bernanti, both under-used) and Lawrence's Maddie. 

While Barth-Feldman's Percy is game, and lapses into sentiment over romantic notions, the story's more insistent on descending into sentimental mush than sustaining a more edgy rationale.

Sure, we've had this kind of humour before in the likes of American Pie, and one naked Jennifer Lawrence beach scene aside that truly surprises, No Hard Feelings disappointingly really has nothing new to offer the genre.