The Kids Are All Right: Movie Review

The Kids Are All Right: Movie Review

The Kids Are All Right
Rating: 8/10
Cast: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Beloved of the festival scene, The Kids Are All Right finally arrives in New Zealand cinemas.
It's the tale of a pair of siblings Joni and Laser (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) who, despite living with their two moms Nic and Jules (Bening and Moore), decide they want to know who their father is.
On Joni's 18th birthday, Laser persuades her to contact the sperm bank to find their dad - and that's how they end up meeting the laid back and non committal Paul (a superb turn by Mark Ruffalo).
However, the uptight Nic's none too impressed with Paul and despite attempts to get to know him, she appears threatened by the whole situation. Matters - and tensions - get worse when Jules starts spending time with Paul...
The Kids Are All Right is going to be one of those films which is acclaimed by some but others may be at a loss to see what its appeal is.
But it's great performances from all involved which mean it's to be enjoyed in the cinema - there's a very real tenderness between Nic and Jules (despite their fighting and snippiness) and it's well portrayed by a spiky Annette Bening and a passive Julianne Moore.
However, it's Mark Ruffalo who truly impresses in this - as he negotiates the wedge driven between the two moms with a carefree attitude and an inappropriate smirk here and there. It's really one of the best performances I've seen from him - and yet another reason why he's one of Hollywood's most underappreciated talents.

The Kids Are All Right is quirky, a bit indie and very funny in places - director Cholodenko never sends the screen play into melodrama and keeps it all on the level.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest: Movie Review

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest: Movie Review

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest
Rating: 8/10
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist
Director: Daniel Alfredson
So, the final part of the Millennium Trilogy arrives on the big screen.
In the third film based on Stieg Larsson's books, the action takes up just moments after the close of the second film. Lisbeth Salander is being choppered to hospital, shot repeatedly and on the brink of death after tracking down her father Alexander Zalachenko and exacting her revenge.
Facing charges of attempted murder, Salander is trapped - with the police wanting to hurry her trial along and with the shadowy cabal The Section determined to get rid of her before their existence becomes known, her prospects don't look good.
But as ever, her faithful friend and journalist of the Millennium magazine Mikael Blomkvist (the ever stoic faced Nyqvist) is determined to clear her name.
However, his quest for justice this time could come at a very high personal cost as those planning the conspiracy are getting closer to achieving their aims....
I'll freely admit that I've never been blown away by these films - sure, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a good watch but the sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire was a bit of a disappointment with its penchant for car chases.
However, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest is a triumphant end to the trilogy - and while some will be put off by the lack of action, the tension in this one is nail biting.

Sure, with most of it taking place in drab corridors, inside a hospital or a courtroom, there's a lot more expected of the actors - and the main duo Rapace and Nyqvist deliver in spades.
Their performances this time around are not showy - they're subtle, layered and peppered with looks and glances which tell you everything you need to know about the characters. Both throw in extremely watchable turns - with Nyqvist making his Blomkvist doggedly determined to clear his friend's name and Rapace saying so much by physically saying so little. It's credit to this pair - who once again, unfortunately spend so much time apart (as the story dictates) that you care so much how it ends.
Yet, it's the story which is more of the star this time (one character even remarks "It's like a classic Greek tragedy") as the various threads are drawn together in the web of decades old conspiracy, the drama is tautly pulled together; so much so that at the devastating end in the courtroom, the restrained directing and story telling works so much better because of it.

The best moment of this film though is the final scene - beautifully poignantly played and not at all what you'd expect given the journey these two share, it is a wonderful testament to the end of the trilogy - and one can only hope that the forthcoming Hollywood remake doesn't abandon it for something much more showy and crowd pleasing.

Dr Who: Time and the Rani: DVD Review

Dr Who: Time and the Rani: DVD Review

Dr Who Time and the Rani
Released by BBC And Roadshow Ent
Rating: PG
Dear, oh dear.
Sometimes being a fan of something can be a cross to bear - and in Dr Who's case, this adventure from the mid 80s which welcomed Sylvester McCoy to the role as the Doctor still remains a horrifying watch some 20 years on.
Forced to regenerate after the TARDIS is attacked, the new Doc tries to work out who he is - at the same time, his nemesis the Rani (Shoulder pad wearing Kate O' Mara) unleashes her plan to take over the universe.
Time and The Rani remains a baffling piece of Dr Who history - the direction and story choice forces the new Doc into being some kind of buffoon who does little to immediately endear himself to a new audience. (Although this can hardly be Sylvester McCoy's fault.)
The story is nonsensical and is Who at its very worst - it's only balanced out by the fact that the extras explain so much of the reason why this just didn't fire from the beginning. A fascinating doco, The Last Chance Saloon, reveals the pressure on the team as BBC suits began to struggle to keep Who on air in the face of such sophisticated new American sci fi shows such as Star Trek The Next Generation.
While the main story is, at best, drivel, the extras give a depth to a turbulent time in the show - and do a little to raise the level of this very disappointing release.
Extras: Commentary, doco, FX docos (which are really interesting given the limitations of 1980s graphics) and Blue Peter and Breakfast time features - a reasonable bunch.

Rating: 4/10

Dr Who: Revisitations: DVD Review

Dr Who: Revisitations: DVD Review

Dr Who: Revisitations Set No 1
Released by BBC and Roadshow Entertainment
Rating: M
A seven disc retrospective on three classic old Who releases may seem a tad premature while there's a lot of good stuff waiting in the wings patiently for a release.
But this collection which pulls together Tom Baker's classic Talons of Weng Chiang, Peter Davison's superb The Caves of Androzani and Paul McGann's only TV Who outing, The TV Movie is a timely reminder of why these releases continue to be so important and informative.
While all three of these have had prior releases, they've been buffed up and remastered with a whole heap of new features. Sure McGann's TV Movie is still the weak link (and remains deeply divisive in Who fandom) but the features which go with it - docos on the making, production, the quest to get Who back on TV after its cancellation - more than make up for the generally patchy actual movie.
The Baker and Davison stories are equally lavished with some great extras, interviews and retrospectives which give hours of watching and will give fans even more love for these.
If you're probably not a Who fan, this set would be a good place to start - it showcases the best of what Who did on a limited budget and with more than a fistful of great extras, it's compulsive viewing.

Rating: 8/10

Animal Kingdom: Blu Ray Review

Animal Kingdom: Blu Ray Review

Animal Kingdom

Released by Madman
Rating: M
One of the hits from the 2010 New Zealand International Film Festival, Animal Kingdom duly deserves its wider release.
An Aussie crime thriller Animal Kingdom by writer director David Michod, this is the Melbourne set story about a crime family falling apart amid police scrutiny - and how a teenager previously estranged from the underworld becomes involved.
It opens with Josh (newcomer James Frecheville) discovering his mum's heroin overdose - and calmly watching an episode of Deal Or No Deal as it all goes down.
With no family to turn to, he's taken into the bosom of the Cody family - a local crime gang who're in their twilight of their career thanks to continual police surveillance.
When one of the Cody family is brutally dispatched, tensions escalate - and soon Josh is in deeper than he expected - and with Guy Pearce's Detective Leckie using him as leverage to try and bring down the syndicate, Josh soon realizes he has to take a side - and that the wrong one could cost him his life.
Animal Kingdom is a tense enthralling affair which hooks you in when you least expect it.
Thanks to the wonderfully layered performance of newcomer James Frecheville,you're caught in the grip of this slick slow burning thriller as you're never quite sure when it's going to explode into violence; there's little of that throughout but thanks to welcome directorial restraint, when it does happen,you're shocked.
With a moody ominous OST, some scenes crackle with uncertainty as you wait for the inevitable to hit. Ben Mendelsohn deserves mention as the volatile uncle Pope whose actions drive so much of the film.
Animal Kingdom is the perfect intelligent and excellently plotted antidote to fast paced unsubstantial crime films- it's a savage must see.
Extras: A plethora of goodies including, commentaries with directors and cast; interview with crime writer Tom Noble; trailer and a feature length doco all make this an essential package.

Rating: 9/10

Predators: DVD Review

Predators: DVD Review

Predators
Rating: R16
Released by Roadshow Entertainment
The fifth film in the Predator franchise had a lot to live upto following the disappointments of the Aliens vs Predators entries.
Helmed by Robert Rodriguez, it sees Adrien Brody as one of a group of misfit mercenaries trapped on a foreign planet. As the group begins to investigate, they realise not only are they inside a game reserve, they're being hunted and suddenly it becomes a fight for survival.
Not exactly a mess, but this Predators film feels a little like harking back to its greatest hits rather than moving the franchise on.
Fans generally of the Predators series will see it as a return to form (and Adrien Brody is great in this all gruff and buffed up) but others may be scratching their heads as to what exactly is going on.
Extras: Over an hour of extras on Blu Ray - one of which is the motion comic picture starring Danny Trejo - it's a great entry and along with commentaries and doco looking at the rebirth of the Predators, it's a reasonable set.

Rating: 5/10

Exit Through the Gift Shop: DVD Review

Exit Through the Gift Shop: DVD Review

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Released by Madman
Rating: M
Fresh from dominating the scene at the New Zealand International Film Festival, comes this marvellous doco about the pop art world and those who dwell within it.
It's about the birth of the street graffiti movement which swept up a generation and defined a movement.
Narrated with laconic ease by Rhys Ifans, its "star" is Thierry Guetta, a French filmmaker who somehow managed to find himself in the birth of the scene simply because he never put down a camera.
Guetta is a French immigrant in Los Angeles, who's obsessed with the street art scene and sets out to capture it for a documentary he's making - however, Guetta, a weaselly man in his forties simply manages to do this just by being in the right place at the right time.
Intoxicated with the art world around him, Guetta sets out to interview all of those involved under the idea of making a doco -even though he doesn't know what he's doing - and somehow manages to instill confidence in everyone around him.
However, Guetta finds he can't get an interview with the one man who's become synonymous with the street art scene, a character known only as Banksy, who never lets his face be seen in this film - and has his voice disguised throughout. Banksy became notorious for his pieces of art in the UK - and the more the mystery around him grows, the more desperate Guetta becomes to meet him.
One day, their paths cross - and Guetta decides he will follow into the art scene - with disastrous and hilarious results.
Exit Through The Gift Shop is laugh out loud funny in places, riotous in others - and will suck you in with its smart style but you may wonder if this is a prank initiated by Banksy who's famed for duping the world.
It's clever film making and could be the dawn of the prankumentary as it seems at times that this piece could be a mock doco with the wool being pulled firmly over the public's eyes - and the art world.
Extras: Doco about Banksy; deleted scenes and the lawyer's edit - all intriguing stuff adding to the feel of the film

Rating: 8/10