Curry Munchers: Movie Review

Curry Munchers: Movie Review

Curry Munchers

Rating: 4/10

Cast: Anand Naidu, Alison Titulaer, Ajay Vasisht, Leela Patel, Ben Mitchell, Rajeev Varma, Tarun Mohanbhai

Director: Cristobal Araus Lobos

A New Zealand film about love, hope and some curry is how those behind Curry Munchers are advertising it.

Anand Naidu (who wrote) stars as Sid, who's forced (along with his sister and mother) to follow his father to Auckland and ditch his life in Delhi.

But when Sid gets there, he finds the house they're living in is a disappointment - and life's not what he'd expected for the promised new country.

Sid ends up working at Sargeet, the local curry house - where he forms a friendship with maitre d' Mary (Titulaer) and the kitchen workers (Varma and Mohanbhai). Sid doesn't want his parents to know about the job - and he's not the only one hiding a secret. Sid's dad isn't actually working as an accountant - he's a forecourt attendant.
The problem is all of these secrets threaten to come to light when Sargeet enters into Cook Off New Zealand and suddenly Sid finds his loyalties torn in many directions.
Curry Munchers has an admirable heart and a nice idea about how migration actually affects those involved.
But the execution is fudged and the end result is bitterly disappointing and slightly amateur in places. Every twist is signposted early on and plays out as predictably as you'd expect. This is also the kind of script where people get hit by a door opening and end up knocked out - the, at times, over the top antics mean that the script heads more to the puerile and silly which would alienate a certain section of the audience.

It's a shame because Anand Naidu actually offers up an engagaing and affable performance as Sid - and the story is earnest in places but it can't quite decide whether to break away from its Indian roots and occasional silliness and because of that, it's likely to not find the wide audience it craves.

Conviction: Movie Review

Conviction: Movie Review

Conviction
Rating: 4/10
Cast: Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver, Peter Gallagher, Melissa Leo
Director: Tony Goldwyn
Hilary Swank stars as Betty Ann Waters in this film which is based on a true story.
Waters is a drop out who's formed a close bond with her brother Kenny (the ever great Sam Rockwell) as they've been shunted from foster home to foster home in their childhoods.
But when Kenny's arrested for murder by Nancy Taylor (Melissa Leo)- and convicted two years after the crime's been committed- Betty Ann feels her life ripped from her.
So, she resolves to put herself through law school with the sole aim of doing whatever it takes to exonerate her brother.
Spurred on by her friend Abra (Driver), Waters contacts the Innocence project, determined to use DNA evidence to get her brother out of jail, despite overwhelming evidence.
Conviction would work better as a TV movie, rather than a big screen outing.
All involved give great performances and it seems unfair to diminish the true story nature of this, but the problem is the film offers nothing new or original to many other similar stories of their ilk.
Granted, it's made perfectly adequately and sees the main duo of Swank and Rockwell acquit themselves decently - but the emotional core of the film appears to have gone AWOL from script to screen.
The moments where you'd expect your heart to leap are curiously flat and presented in a very matter of fact way; and some of the most potentially engaging drama (Waters' marriage falling apart being one) takes place off screen, robbing you of any real involvement. That and the fact that it's not explored that this woman's spent her entire life trying to save her brother and it's cost her everything and you just feel nothing but detachment from what transpires in front of you.

At the end of the day, Conviction has plenty of its own title in it, but it really could have done with a little more courage of its convictions to have soared above the usual fare.

Love Birds: Movie Review

Love Birds: Movie Review

Love Birds
Rating: 7/10
Cast: Rhys Darby, Sally Hawkins, Emily Barclay, Bryan Brown, Faye Smythe, Craig Hall, Pierre the duck
Director: Paul Murphy
From the director of the Kiwi smash hit Second Hand Wedding, comes this new film aimed at showing us another side of Rhys Darby.
Darby stars as Doug, a council worker who's happy with his life, living at his parents' place and cruising along. One day, though, his long term girlfriend Susan (Smythe) decides enough is enough and takes flight.
Within moments of that, Doug suddenly finds an injured Paradise Shelduck dumped on his roof.
With no-one to care for the duck, Doug takes on the job - and his adventure brings him into contact with Sally Hawkins' zoo worker Holly.
Gradually, the injured animal learns to live and love again - and so does the duck....
To be honest, Love Birds is your fairly conventional rom com fare - guy meets girl, complications and problems follow.
But what sets this above from the rest is Rhys Darby.
This is a career redefining moment from the guy who's prone to playing (in his words I might add) a bit of a dick.
In Love Birds, Darby is a revelation - he's a forlorn, lost, vulnerable and romantic lead who proves to be very watchable in what is a traditional tale. Darby has to straddle that line of acting with animals too - as the majority of his scenes are with Pierre the duck. But with laughs thrown in and a generally charming tone, he manages to more than adequately get by.
The unexpectedly humourous moments are underplayed as well - and are a lot more enjoyable because of that.
Special mention needs to go to the cinematography as well - every shot of Auckland (from the swooping harbour bridge shots through to the night time street shots, once again, the City of Sails looks simply amazing.
A little disappointing is the underuse of the great Bryan Brown as a vet and narratively, it has to be said, Craig Hall adds little to the proceedings.
In all honesty, Love Birds won't win for originality of script; it's sweet and charming (but never overly so).
However, what it will win for is making you think twice about Rhys Darby.

He's an affable, believable and extremely convincing lead - and based on this alone, he's destined for even greater things.

Tamara Drewe: Movie Review

Tamara Drewe: Movie Review

Tamara Drewe
Rating: 5/10
Cast: Gemma Arterton, Tamsin Greig, Dominic Cooper, Luke Evans, Roger Allam
Director: Stephen Frears
Taken from a weekly UK comic strip in the Guardian newspaper, the big screen adaptation of Tamara Drewe finally hits New Zealand screens.
Gemma Arterton is Drewe, a journalist forced back into her sleepy English home town to sell the family home after the death of her mother. Tamara fled years ago after realizing there was life outside of the dull boring backwater she grew up in.
But not only has Tamara returned home, she's returned a different girl following cosmetic surgery for a gigantic nose issue.
Her arrival stirs up many feelings - a long dormant relationship with local handyman Andy (Luke Evans), a jealousy among the writers who frequent a retreat, as well as hatred from two of the local school girls after Drewe begins a relationship with a rocker (Dominic Cooper) adored by many the teen girl.
And things come to a head with the return - not all of them in a good way.
Tamara Drewe is a mixed film.
On the one hand, it's obvious that this version sticks very closely to the source material (with many of the characters looking incredibly close to what was inked on the page) and on the other, it's such a mish mash of so many different kinds of films with a central character whom you're kind of loathe to really route for. Plus throw in a mix of themes - romance, drama, kitchen sink dramas et al and it's an odd hotpot of narrative you end up with.
Arterton is good as Drewe - but the role calls for her to be alluring seductress, lost little girl and victim as well - and it's a lot which means you don't really end up routing for the heroine of the piece.
There's little real edge to the story with every character having a facet of their life which makes them unlikeable to varying - Andy the local handyman is weak-willed; Beth (the wonderful Tamsin Greig coming soon in TV ONE's new comedy Episodes) is spineless for not standing upto her crime writer husband's affairs; Ben (Dominic Cooper) is self centred as the rocker.
All in all, they're a fairly feckless bunch of characters and ones whom you don't really care about.

Tamara Drewe brilliantly captures the small countryside mentality as well as the simmering resentments, but there's something uniquely English about the portrayal which means some of the subtleties may be lost on other audiences.

In A Better World: Movie Review

In A Better World: Movie Review

In A Better World
Rating: 8/10
Cast: Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen
Director: Susanne Bier
After snagging a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, and with an Oscar nomination in tow, it would appear In a Better World can do no wrong.
It opens in Africa with Persbrandt's Anton working as a doctor in a field hospital and dealing with the fall out of a warlord and combat.
Anton is the pacifist, preferring to take the moral high ground rather than strike the first blow - but it's more difficult for his son Elias back in Denmark. He's bullied by the school kids and a bit of a loner.
One day, new kid on the block, Christian defends him - and a friendship forms. But as the friendship grows, Christian, who's recently lost his mother to cancer and is full of anger plots revenge on those who would do him and his friends wrong.
And it all escalates with devastating consequences.

In a Better World is a powerhouse, slow burning drama.

With evocative cutaways (either in Africa or Denmark), there's a real brooding intensity throughout - and while Persbrandt is good as Anton, the film belongs to the kids - William Jøhnk Nielsen as Christian and Markus Rygaard as Elias.

Both bring a real intensity to their brooding - Nielsen's particularly subtle in his role as a kid who's experienced loss and grief and doesn't know where to channel it.

Expect to become quickly engrossed in this drama - it's multi-layered, subtle and deeply rewarding. As the emotional tense pressure cooker boils up, you will be moved by the powerful punch it packs at the end.

And it will probably be clearing some space for Oscar very soon.

City Island: DVD Review

City Island: DVD Review

City Island
Released by Madman
Rating: M

City Island sees the welcome return of Andy Garcia to the big screen.

He's Vincent Rizzo, a corrections officer and the head of the Rizzo family who live in City Island just over from New York's Bronx district.

Married to his beautiful wife Joyce (ER's Margulies) and with two kids, the Rizzos are dysfunctional in the extreme.

One day at work, Vince finds out one of the inmates is his son Tony from a previous relationship - and upon learning of Tony's mother's death, and without telling him why, Vince brings Tony back to the Rizzo home.

But this generous action serves only as a catalyst to bring the carefully spun web of lies crashing down.

City Island is a delightful treat - primarily because of Garcia. He's so solid in everything he does that when he gets a chance to lead a film you almost forget what a wonderful character actor he is. As the head of the household, he personifies charm and despite the melodramatic nature of the plot, he keeps it all together.

Along with Julianna Margulies, this film has a wonderful cast - including Alan Arkin as Vince's acting class teacher - and a script which is grounded in a degree of reality. It's also a lot funnier than expected.

Extras: Commentary, mini featurette and deleted scenes - a reasonable offering

Rating: 7/10 

Sanctum 3D: Movie Review

Sanctum 3D: Movie Review

Sanctum 3D
Rating: 3/10
Cast: Richard Roxburgh, Ioan Gruffudd, Rhys Wakefield
Director: Alister Grierson
Inspired by a true story, Sanctum 3D is the tale of a group of explorers in Papua New Guinea who are checking out one of the biggest caves in the world.
They've been at it for a while - and are determined to find out how the water in the Esa-Ala cave system makes its way to the sea.
But a group of five of them - a playboy millionaire and his girlfriend, a father and son (who have a strained relationship) and a former diver who doesn't dive anymore - are in deep water when a cyclone unexpectedly blows in, trapping them below ground.
With no other option but to find a way out, the gang find tempers fraying and obstacles in their path as they try to make it out alive....
Firstly, let's get this out of the way - the film comes emblazoned with the words James Cameron and 3D, giving you a sense of expectation before you go in.
My advice - forget that - because Cameron only executive produced the flick and helped with some of the technology.
This thriller may have some good tense moments here and there - but with cheesy, clunky dialogue such as: "This cave's not gonna beat me" and "Life's not a dress rehearsal", you know you're clearly in C list disaster movie territory.
Richard Roxburgh is suitably gruff as Frank, the leader of the expedition whose failed relationship with his son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) doesn't quite provide some of the requisite tension throughout. It's far too obvious what's going to happen between them and there's little to leave you rooting for their survival.
Perhaps worse though is over the top Ioan Gruffudd who seems to spend most of the film simply SHOUTING his dialogue to try and convey frustration and emotion - goodness knows what they were thinking on that front.
Coupled with characters who don't listen to the experts (and is therefore marked for death early on), the script really needed an overhaul before it went into commission.
I will concede though that the underwater sequences are beautifully shot, with the 3D bringing to life the aquatic habitat - and early on, there's a certain amount of nervy claustrophobic moments as the mainly inexperienced divers go deeper.

The problem is that Sanctum becomes as much of an ordeal for the audience as it does for the characters - and with a lack of compassion or sympathy for any of them, you're really denied the chance to care about whether they survive or not.