Rush: Movie Review

Rush: Movie Review

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde, Natalie Dormer
Director: Ron Howard

Motor racing films have not really been well served over the years.

Sure, there's been Days of Thunder, Talladega Nights, The Fast and Furious series - but it's really only ever been the documentary genre that's really got under the skin and thrill of the sport. TT3D: Close to the Edge was astounding and Senna was heartbreakingly good - but they both fully explored the reasons for people doing what they do rather than serving the racing up as a sidebar to the drama.

This latest drama, from director Ron Howard, takes a look at the prolonged rivalry between British Formula One driver James Hunt (a blonde mopped Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian driver Niki Lauda (stunningly played by actor Daniel Bruhl) which ran from 1971 to 1976.

Howard chooses to tell the story as a battle between two rivals who are cut from the same cloth but are diametrically opposed in outlooks on life and attitudes.

Hunt is a playboy, who's as interested in notching up marks on his bedpost as he is in winning races. He works his way up the Formula 3 tracks to win and gradually ends up in the big league. Lauda, in contrast, uses precision and calculating psychology to achieve his goals - and some money to buy his way into the Formula One world. Their rivalry is formed in their formative years on a formula 3 track and culminates in a disastrous race in 1976 at the Nurburgring track.

Ron Howard's crafted a racing film that's as much about the drama off the track as it is on. By choosing to keep the racing shots to a minimum until the final crucial race, he's ensured you're fully invested in the characters as the inevitable happens. Perfect attention to period detail throughout and some tautly put together racing ensures the feel of the Rush movie is epic and yet still intimate.

While it's Hemsworth's larrikin Hunt, with his laddish bed-hopping ways and his braggadacio, whose face beams out from the film poster, this is actually more Daniel Bruhl's film and Lauda's story. Hemsworth's clipped English accent occasionally fades into Aussie drawl, but Bruhl's precision and the way he's captured Lauda's precision, apparent social ineptitude and veneer is second to none. In fact, Bruhl excels in this, using understated characterisation to bring the so called rat to life; whereas Hemsworth's handed a role which is the complete opposite - he takes the spoils of a posh boy ladette in a world looking for a racing hero - both are perfect examples of why F1 drivers are held in such high rockstar esteem and what drives them to risk their lives during every race.

But Howard's also had a hand in this, subtly building up the relationship over various encounters and stretched throughout the years; minor comments here and there craft together a relationship and rivalry which is relatable and utterly engrossing. Using archive footage here and there, he's also managed to capture the atmosphere of the races.

And talking of the races, Howard's recreation of the key moments is every petrol head's dream. From the sound of the engines revving to the pump of the pistons, by using sweeping camera shots and occasional driver point-of-view shots, he's captured the thrill of the race, the adrenalin rush and the reason the drivers do it. I'm not a Formula One fan by any stretch of the imagination, but what he's created on screen is utterly addictive.

Some other elements of the film, unfortunately, don't work quite as well.

A few characters here and there appear, seem to form part of the story and then simply disappear, leaving a narrative unfulfilled (Natalie Dormer's character being the chief culprit); he uses way too many voiceovers to service the film's exposition - and while it's clear he's trying to capture some of the psychology and inner thoughts, the over-use makes it feel tired and grating in places; the film feels a little overlong as well - it could have easily lost 20 minutes and still been as riveting - and it feels as if it doesn't quite know how to end with a post script to the crowning of the World Champion feeling unnecessary and unwarranted. I'm hoping that the story of the rivalry will be a more universal one as well as it'd be a shame for non-sports fans to pass this one by.

All in all, Rush is a compelling and captivating piece of cinema - it's gripping, riveting and a superb insight into sporting rivalry both on and off the track.

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Jobs: Movie Review

Jobs: Movie Review

Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Matthew Modine, JK Simmons, Lukas Haas
Director: Joshua Michael Stern

So, the first Steve Jobs cab off the rank is this biopic, which will no doubt be forgotten once West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin's version hits the cinema.

Kutcher plays Jobs in this film which starts with the unveiling of the iPod in 2001 and scoots back to the college years and Jobs' first foray into the world of computers, before his eventual getting chucked from Apple and re-instating as the messiah of the electronics world.

And that's really all that happens in this piece, which proffers up little insight into what inspired or drove the man, both on a professional and personal level. Prone to outbursts which seem rude and abrasive when it came to his colleagues, I'm guessing it was his vision, passion and drive which led him to these explosions. I say guessing because there's little evidence on screen or hints over what fuelled this fire at all.

In fact, there's scant passion in any of this formulaic and dull biopic, which fails to come even close to revealing Jobs' motivation. You're more likely to learn about the inner workings of the Apple company, the fight between Apple and IBM, the boardroom politics and corporate manoeuvring  than anything else in this sketchy piece. It also skates over his appalling treatment of his daughter and completely ignores his health issues and subsequent death, which you could argue were vital to the man.

Kutcher initially appears to personify Jobs and has his physicality down to a tee, but that's about all. There's nothing inherently wrong with the performance, (even if it does simply lapse into wistful lip pursing and staring) but it just fails to be engaging at all thanks to lacklustre source material. Even Jobs' colleagues, and long term collaborator Steve Wozniak have little insight into their relationships which appear to have lasted years.

Stern prefers to save his direction for copious over-use of musical montages and swirling camera shots which start to really grate as the two hours drag on.

Formulaic and forgettable, this first Jobs biopic barely scratches the surface of the man and it certainly doesn't inspire on any level. It's nowhere near a definitive piece or peek at the man and feels like a slightly dull volume one of a novel.

Here's hoping Sorkin's effort fares a little better.

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Olympus Has Fallen: Blu Ray Review

Olympus Has Fallen: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

"When our flag falls our nation will rise"

Well, one man specifically.

Olympus Has Fallen is the first of two similar films being released this year, with essentially the same plot. White House Down with Channing Tatum follows later in the year, but for now the first cab off the rank stars Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, a secret serviceman assigned to look after the president. As the film begins, it's Christmas and it's clear he's close to POTUS (Eckhart) and the First Lady (Ashley Judd), as well as their moppet son. But when an accident causes Mike to make a terrible choice between saving the First Lady and the President, he leaves the secret service, punishing himself for, in his eyes, allowing the First Lady to die.

Roll on 18 months later, and Mike's working a desk job for the treasury, when all hell breaks loose as terrorists take down the White House. Feeling the strong patriotic call of duty, Mike leaps in to try and rescue the president from the bad guys and save the day....Olympus Has Fallen is a throwback to the action films of yore, of East vs West, of cold war paranoia before scripts got smarter and sophisticated and in a time before action heroes dispatched the baddies with many a witty quip.

And yet, this latest from Training Day's acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua, strikes a chord and hits the right notes a lot of the time.

High octane, very violent and yet remarkably restrained in places (no temptation to go completely OTT), with shades of contemporary politics and tensions (North Korea and South Korea feature prominently) and a performance from Butler which impresses, Olympus Has Fallen benefits from Fuqua's tight directing and some action sequences which deliver the goods, while copying The Raid: Redemption and TV show 24 in places. (Even down to the hero's questionable use of torture to get what he needs).

But despite some of the cheesiness and predictability, it's actually a watchable piece of blockbuster goodness; with Butler giving an at times, haunted and paunchy turn which shows the everyman can save the day (John McClane, anyone?), as well as taking down quite a few bad guys, while the rest of the elite of the secret service are slaughtered around him. All in all, though, Olympus Has Fallen rises on its action sequences with Fuqua throwing everything at them, despite the evident silliness and very high body count. It won't win any awards for originality but it may actually provide you with some mindless entertainment and food for thought that Butler has more to offer than you first believed.


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Performance: DVD Review

Performance: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

Movies are sometimes like buses - you wait ages for one of its ilk, then suddenly two of a kind show up.

So it is with Performance, aka A Late Quartet - and December's Quartet from Dustin Hoffman. Both films centre on a quartet with issues and both have a Hoffman involved. In the latest, it's a Seymour Hoffman as Philip who plays Robert, one quarter of the aforementioned quartet. They've been together 25 years and when founding member Peter (Walken in a sombre role) announces to the group he has Parkinson's Disease and must retire, it throws the cat among the pigeons for the remaining members.

Not only is there the grief of what lies ahead, but also simmering tensions between Robert, wife Juliette (Keener) and Daniel (Lerner) come boiling to the surface. Throw in the fact that Robert and Juliette's daughter Alexandra (Poots) is tempestuous to say the least, and it's a potent mix of relationships, resentments and Beethoven

Performance is a reflective character piece, which borders on the maudlin at times. However, it's very solidly and convincingly acted by the cast who are totally committed to what director Zilberman brings to the table. The music and stunning scenery plays second fiddle to the issues blighting the group and despite the refined settings of the film, there's a certain classiness to what the actors bring to the screen.

But there's also a distance and aloofness which proves difficult to the engagement despite the actors. Walken provides a haunting face to the stricken Peter, Hoffman is a powerful figure whose underplaying of the role is fast becoming a trademark of everything he does. Keener adds a dignity to the conflicted emotions she feels and Poots is all arrogance as the young daughter.

Occasionally melodramatic and self centred, there's a vulnerability to Performance which may strike more of a chord with some than I confess it did with me.

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ZB Movie Review - RED2, Identity Thief and Oblivion

ZB Movie Review - RED2, Identity Thief and Oblivion

This week on Jack Tame on Newstalk ZB, I talked briefly about Jobs, RED2, Identity Thief and Oblivion.

Take a listen below:

http://newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/player/ondemand/1587452907-darren-bevan--this-week-at-the-movies

Paranoia: Movie Review

Paranoia: Movie Review

Cast: Liam Hemsworth, Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford, Amber Heard, Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon
Director: Robert Luketic

Billed as a "high stakes thriller", Paranoia is a delve into the world of greed and deception within the technology industry.

It focuses on Liam Hemsworth's Adam, a young up-and-comer in the industry who's been working at entry level at a tech company run by Nicholas Wyatt (Gary Oldman, in cock-er-nee mood). Adam's an honest sort, but one who wants more from life, envious of how some are willing to cheat to get ahead and have achieved major wealth off of others. He lives at home with his sick father (a criminally underused Richard Dreyfuss) and is always struggling.

When he and his team are fired from their jobs, they head out to commiserate and spend up big on their company credit card. But the next day, Adam's hauled up in front of his amoral former boss and given an ultimatum and Faustian pact from Wyatt - face jail time for fraud charges or infiltrate another tech company run by Harrison Ford's Jock Goddard, Wyatt's former mentor and now business enemy.

Seduced by the wealth and possibilities, Adam's sucked into a world of corporate esponiage and is soon in danger of losing his life.

Paranoia is supposed to be a thriller, but to be frank, it lacks any real thrills or suspense whatsoever, resulting in a perfectly average, but utterly under-cooked effort.

Sure, Hemsworth finds any excuse to take his shirt off and wander around semi-naked, but the fact he's completely soulless, dead behind the eyes and lacking any real charisma means you don't actually feel for his plight or any peril he may be in.

Likewise, why tease the possibility of Oldman and Ford's characters being major rivals and have them face off each other in only a handful of scenes? And when they finally do face each other down, there's scant tension, little energy and only the slightest frisson of them wanting to tear strips off each other. Though the sight of a shaven headed Ford at the end seething and threatening to boil over brings the first sign of life to this - but it's too late by then.

Underwritten characters, lumpen direction and laughable dialogue in this derail it from the start. An initial voiceover from Hemsworth intones that "I am not going to make excuses - I asked for this" as he extols the fact the American dream has been bastardised by the corporate greed (before fully embracing said greed); another scene in the latter stages at the tech company sees one security guard screaming that they need to "get the IT guy on the line" when their systems go down. Even Ford isn't invulnerable too - he succumbs to delivering the line -"Power's the juice - get used to drinking it"

Worst though is Amber Heard's marketing boss Emma whom Adam tries to kindle a romance with. Initially frosty after a one night stand, there's the promise of some delicious banter and back and forth to give this some spark; but the writers choose to turn Heard's ball busting, no-nonsense corporate bigwig into a weak kneed, just wants a nice man to love her stereotype, who ends up resorting to batting her eyes and looking through her long hair at sad moments. The underwriting of the characters - that's the biggest crime of Paranoia, a film so mis-labelled there's hardly any paranoia around at all.

All in all, Paranoia had the trappings of some decent moments and the promise of a thriller, but it delivers up a damp squib which is memorable for all the things it does wrong, rather than getting it right. And that's enough to make anyone in Hollywood paranoid.

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About Time: Movie Review

About Time: Movie Review

Cast: Domnhall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Lindsay Duncan

Director: Richard Curtis

Is About Time Richard Curtis’ directorial swan song?

The man who gave us such saccharine treats as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, Notting Hill and launched the career of the foppish Hugh Grant is stepping down?

Say it ain’t so – but it appears to be with About Time, the latest rom-com sap-fest from the Working Title fold.

So, it’s back once more to Curtis’ idealistic Britain, where London is never gloomy and the English folk eat alfresco on the Cornish coast whatever the weather. So far, so quaint and so Hollywood stereotyped….

Domnhall Gleeson (one of the Weasley brothers from the Harry Potter series) plays Tim, who discovers from his father on his 21^st birthday that all the men in the family possess the ability to travel in time. All they have to do is enter a darkened room, clasp their hands together and think of the moment they wish to return to – et voila, a second chance from within their own lifetime beckons.

How does Tim use this great gift? 

Well, as Tim decries initially, “For me - it was always going to be about love” and he turns his power towards ensuring that Mary (a rather bland and wishy-washy Rachel McAdams) becomes his beau.

But Tim gradually learns that this power isn’t to be abused – and despite having every chance in the world to change things, not everything can be changed for the better and some life lessons need to be learned.

About Time is exactly what you’d expect from the Richard Curtis romcom stable. If you’re an old cynic, you’ll gradually feel the roof of your gums as you angrily gnash your teeth away as the celluloid sugar overload pours out in waves at you; otherwise, you’ll lap up every moment and laugh at every English eccentricity, ignoring the fact that Curtis is plundering from his own stockpile and trademarks to bring you a very polished, yet mawkish and sentimental film. (In fact, you can play Curtis bingo as well – as characters appear to have wondered in from other films he’s penned)

Gleeson really impresses in his first lead – even if he does have overtones of Hugh Grant’s patented stutter, awkwardness and vulnerability down to a tee; there’s something endearing about his gradual coming of age and realising that despite living each day again, it’s the extraordinary ordinariness which makes us all so special. (In case you didn’t already know and needed film to tell you otherwise)

Likewise, Nighy turns in another great character role, bringing a subtlety and nuanced heart to the father figure. It’s a performance which may have many (even the hard hearted) wanting to call their parents for a quick catch up afterwards but it’s never one that descends too far into sentimental mush, despite the plot going darker at the end.

Tom Hollander deserves some praise too as the acerbic bitter twist in this Brit sci-fi Groundhog Day as a playwright around to dispense the perfect oneliner to punctuate the overly tender moments. (Don’t dwell too much on the time travel element – it’s there to service the narrative rather than be explored and once the novelty of some romantic mishaps are explored, it takes a back seat until the poignant end.)

Did it win me over? Not in the slightest, due to the fact it borrows heavily and indulges Curtis’ own back catalogue; every moment I could see coming from a mile off and there was not one single moment where there was a surprise waiting for me.  It’s a meditation on regret and the reality of growing up not a complex look at the mores and dilemmas faced by someone with great power – it’s crowd-pleasing in the extreme and hits every note that Curtis would have wanted to this time around.

All in all, About Time is entirely predictable and utter feel good fluff as the overload of cute builds to its climax; Curtis’ schmaltzy swansong is exactly what you’d expect from the man (even down to the mood setting generic piano music) and thanks to a more coherent, if overlong, script, it comes together well as the consequences of change and the relationships we share are put under scrutiny. 

About Time is perfectly pleasant cinematic stuff, not life-changing, but not too soul-destroying in its saccharine assault on the senses. 

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