Runner Runner: Movie Review

Runner Runner: Movie Review

Cast: Justin Timberlake, Gemma Arterton, Ben Affleck, Anthony Mackie, John Heard
Director: Brad Furman

Justin Timberlake dances back onto the big screen with this latest, a cat and mouse thriller set in the world of online gaming.

JT is Richie, a Princeton grad student, has been earning commission referring students to sites but when he's threatened with eviction off campus by the Dean, he goes for broke in an online poker game, risking all his fortune.

But when he loses it all, he realises the system's cheated him - so he heads to Costa Rica to confront online gambling tycoon Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). However, Block's impressed by Richie and seduces him into his world by offering him wealth.

Things take a turn for the nasty when the FBI shows up, warning Richie that he's over his head and revealing just how much danger he is in....

Runner Runner is annoyingly flat for a so-called cat and mouse thriller that's supposed to seduce you into another world and offer you everything.

With its "House Always Wins" mantra, this bland excuse for a movie proffers up scant tension and hardly any hints of danger as each side is manipulated by all those playing the game. Timberlake delivers his lines well, but there's little conviction behind them; Gemma Arterton is simply there to be wasted as bronzed eye candy and Affleck appears to phone it in as a charmer turned wannabe gangster type.

There's no indication of life in the script, no zing in the dialogue and no real reason why Ritchie is seduced into this world - he attends one party and suddenly believes the online gambling world is the place for him to thrive; there's no conviction in any of the performances and there's certainly no passion or chemistry between Arterton and Timberlake as their so-called affair "heats up". Not once did Affleck convince me there was a simmering bad guy lurking beneath the charming veneer, threatening to boil over into some kind of explosion - there's no menace within.

A thriller that fails to bring anything truly thrilling to the genre, Runner Runner is a massive waste of the talent involved - it's supposed to be a cautionary tale of greed, a take on the American Dream and a story of one youngster being seduced by a charming bad guy. But all that emerges is a film that's tedious and dull - despite its 90 minute run time.

Do yourself a favour - and don't gamble on Runner Runner.

Rating:

Captain Phillips: Movie Review

Captain Phillips: Movie Review

Cast: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Catherine Keener
Director: Paul Greengrass

Tom Hanks heads back to the open water (again) in this thriller based on real life events from April 2009.

Hanks is Captain Richard Phillips, a cargo ship captain, whose latest job sees him guiding the Maersk Alabama around the Horn of Africa. But as those in the waters know, that stretch of sea is famous for attacks from Somali pirates.

When a group of four pirates board the Alabama, the line between the Captain and the lead pirate Muse (Abdi) is drawn - and so begins a psychological game which could have fatal consequences. Things get worse when the pirates kidnap Phillips and put him into a lifeboat trying to escape.

145 miles off the Somali coast and with the clock ticking, the stakes are raised even higher when the US military's called in to the first hijacking of one of their ships in over 200 years....will Phillips live to sail another day?

Captain Phillips is trademark Greengrass. The director of two of the Bourne trilogy films brings his usual eye for tension and detail to the fore of this tale that ramps up the suspense in some parts and simply tells the story as it is.

But with an unnecessary shaky cam feel from the start - why this couldn't have been left until the water scenes I'll never know - it takes a while to get into the feel of the film and the drama. It's more a tale of two captains, who have desperation fuelling their decisions than a straight psychological piece. For Muse, it's fear from failing his superiors at home which spur him into the situation he finds himself in; and Abdi delivers a bony, edgy, nervily compelling performance which threatens to boil over at any point into horrifying consequences.

With Phillips, it's about the protection of his crew first off and Hanks does an excellent job of an average man trying to do an above average job in trying circumstances. It's a role Hanks has excelled at before and one that he shines at again, though in all honesty, it's not until the end of the movie that we actually see Hanks acting during a delayed emotive reaction to what's happened and it's spine-tinglingly good.

Which is why it's a shame to report that there's no real emotional pull during the rest of the film. While the khat-chewing pirates are fairly well drawn out (there's the young newbie, the unpredictably volatile one, the one with heart) and stand out as characters of their own, it's only really when there's the head to head with Muse and Phillips that the film gains an edge. That tension seems to dissipate a little when the action moves off the boat and onto the submersible, which to be honest is somewhat of a surprise given that is where the claustrophobic atmosphere should have been ramped up. With shaky cam prevalent throughout, and no explanation as to why the military suddenly become so heavily involved in this altercation, there's a feeling that this flick leans quite heavily on Hanks' performance.

And that's a good thing given the level of underplayed intensity that he brings - certainly, by the end, I was a little more invested than I'd initially felt. While parts of Captain Phillips are all at sea, the underlying tension throughout niggles and inveigles its way under your skin - but it's all due, once again, to a powerhouse slow burning performance from Tom Hanks.

Rating:

Newstalk ZB Movie Review - 2 Guns,Machete Kills and Spring Breakers

Newstalk ZB Movie Review - 2 Guns, Machete Kills and Spring Breakers

It's a busy time with the movies at the moment, leading to the Christmas period.

First up though, this week, to give you some context, Jack Tame finally ended up going to the movies - to see Gravity. A week after my recommendation...

Here's his opening comments.

Here's the reviews this week - 2 Guns, Machete Kills and Spring Breakers...

http://newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/player/ondemand/418712122-darren-bevan--movie-reviews

Missing Doctor Who episodes recovered

Missing Doctor Who episodes recovered

It's not often you get to write a headline like this - and it's one guaranteed to send a tingle down the spine of any Doctor Who fan.

The BBC has announced that nine episodes of Doctor Who have been found in Nigeria. The even better news is that they feature the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton.

The previously missing, presumed destroyed episodes hail from The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear, with episodes 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of Enemy completing that particular story and the return of episodes 2, 4, 5, and 6 of Web meaning only episode 3 of the Yeti sequel is still missing. Episode 3 of Enemy and episode 1 of Web were also returned, but were already held in the archive.

The recovery now brings the total number of missing episodes down to 97.

More details are on the Doctor Who News site.

The Enemy of the World will be on release on DVD from November 24th in the UK - no word yet on a NZ release; and The Web of Fear is scheduled for sometime in early 2014.

2 Guns: Movie Review

2 Guns: Movie Review

Cast: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton. Bill Paxton, Fred Ward, James Marsden, Edward James Olmos
Director: Baltasar Kormakur

It's back to the world of the buddy cop movie in 2 Guns, the latest movie to team director Baltasar Kormakur back up with Mark Wahlberg. (They previously collaborated on Contraband)

This time around, wise-cracking, fast-talking Wahlberg plays Michael Stigman who's buddied up with Denzel Washington's even-tempered, gold-toothed, hat-wearing Robert Trench. The pair are criminals and are busted on the Mexican border after meeting with Edward James Olmos' drug overlord, Papi.

But unbeknownst to each other, Trench is an undercover DEA agent and Stigman is working for the navy...

Suddenly, when $43.1 million dollars goes missing from a bank they were going to rob to break their way into a drug cartel, the pair find themselves under suspicion from every angle - and under investigation from each other.

Based on a series of graphic novels, 2 Guns is a surprisingly competent comedy actioner, which occasionally flounders around trying to find its own identity. It feels, at times, as if it's unsure whether it's comedy or action, with Wahlberg's constant wise-cracking, smart-ass bouncing nicely off Denzel's usual charismatic underplaying.

But this is not in the vein of Lethal Weapon or the usual buddy up you've come to expect from movies of these types. It's a surprisingly restrained, occasionally twisty movie that proffers up surprises as it unspools. Eschewing some of the usual tropes of the genre, 2 Guns introduces more low-lifes than you'd come to expect in between the explosions and violent bursts of gun fire.

Occasionally though, it does lack a little punch and panache as it skates the line between not quite comedy and not quite out-and-out action. And some of the plot's turns and machinations are a little murky at best, with double crosses and revelations left, right and centre making it confused for you to get a handle on.

Washington and Wahlberg's bromance works well, and the film hints at future outings for the fractious pair; elsewhere, Edward James Olmos' moustachioed Papi gruffly chews up some of the scenery; Marsden scores points as a buzz-cutted Naval officer and Paula Patton oscillates between love interest and captive. But it's Bill Paxton who brings the sleaze and odd menace as someone caught up in this money triangle - with thin tie and cowboy hat, his is a role that crackles when he's onscreen.

All in all, 2 Guns is perfectly serviceable and utterly forgettable. It's due to the easy going chemistry between the two leads that it works, but if it was a one shot film, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

Rating:

American Hustle trailer is here

American Hustle trailer is here

The brand new trailer for David O Russell's American Hustle is here.

Starring Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner, the film is due out in NZ next year.

We're gearing up for David O Russell's next film, American Hustle and it looks like the publicity is starting to kick in for this piece now.

There are now five character posters for American Hustle.

American Hustle, which reunites Lawrence and Cooper with their Silver Linings Playbook director David O Russell,  focuses on the FBI’s infamous Abscam operation of the late 70s and early 80s, which ultimately led to the conviction of a US senator and five members of the US Government’s House of Representatives.

Machete Kills: Movie Review

Machete Kills: Movie Review

Cast: Danny Trejo, Lady Gaga, Amber Heard, Mel Gibson, Alexa Vega, Sofia Vergara, Charlie Sheen, Antonio Banderas, Michelle Rodriguez

After breathing life into a character which appeared as part of the Planet Terror / Death Proof faux trailers, and scoring box office gold with a spin off, Machete (Danny Trejo) returns once again.

This time around, after the death of his partner (Jessica Alba) at the hands of a masked killer, Machete is recruited by the US Government (aka POTUS Charlie Sheen) to take on an arms dealer in Mexico.

The rub? This arms dealer wants to fire a rocket on Washington and wipe out the government for doing little to wipe the scourge of the Mexican drug cartels from the planet.

So, it's upto Machete, a big knife and some cojones to save the day....

Where the first Machete had a degree of panache and self-awareness in terms of its exploitation, this latest Grindhouse / cult effort from director Robert Rodriguez brings little to the table.

Amid a slew of killings, beheadings and general limb dismemberment, Danny Trejo, complete with his ruggedly lined face stumbles about as a dull Machete, looking tired, dazed and confused as to what exactly is going on. In amid his monosyllabic gruntings and one liners ("Machete don't tweet", "Machete don't smoke" to name but two of them), he seems lost at sea and confused as to what exactly is expected of him this time around.

Only Modern Family's buxom Sofia Vergara seems to have a ball with her part, playing a whorehouse mistress whose main thrust is to avenge her dead daughter, killed when under Machete's charge. She fires the role with such aplomb that she's sorely missed when her brief time is over. And she brings new meaning to showing off her guns as well.

But that's half the problem with this latest Machete film - it feels sorely unfinished and under-cooked.

The first was a complete story whereas this latest seems to find Rodriguez suffused with the desire to build everything up to a climax that doesn't deliver and only teases a future installment, which appears to be set in space and is likely to be a grindhouse take on Star Wars, judging by the faux trailers which preface and bookend the piece. And the hints of a third film are terrifying, given the whole thing could have been epically wrapped up in this one alone.

Narrative threads simply disappear or are just disposed of to move the story along and it's utterly frustrating and feels like a callous disregard for the audience, regardless of the constraints of working within the grindhouse genre.

Sure, Rodriguez manages a clever way to bring in a slew of guest stars (ooh, look it's Lady Gaga, prancing like she was in a music video, oooh, it's Cuba Gooding Jr, oooh it's Antonio Banderas) by having them play different faces of a criminal known as La Cameleon. (He even deserves praise for using so many women actors (even if they do have their butts hanging out of chaps) amid the action) But even they are simply thrown by the wayside when Rodriguez tires of playing with his celluloid toys.

Carlos Estevez (aka The winning Charlie Sheen) is wooden as the US President and Mel Gibson is utterly banal and unconvincing as the bad guy (with Rodriguez slyly hinting at Scientology but not bothering to go the full hog); even Demian Bichir hams it up as the OTT baddie initially, before he falls prey to the gory slaughter rained down upon the cast. A couple of gory kills will satisfy the adolescents in the audience, but there's little else here given how tame it all feels and how self-indulgent it becomes.

In short, the creatively limp Machete Kills does nothing except fire blanks.

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