Trainwreck: Film Review

Trainwreck: Film Review

Cast: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Lebron James
Director: Judd Apatow

Current It comedian Amy Schumer makes the leap to the big screen in Trainwreck, the latest dramedy to get the treatment from Judd Apatow, which began with 2009's Funny People and continued with This Is 40.

In this fairly autobiographical piece, Schumer plays Amy, a commitment-phobe serial one-night-stander and magazine contributor whose life's been shaped by her father's insistence that monogamy is not normal. When she ends up putting him in a home because his MS has got too bad, she finds her life upended - partially due to that and also due to the fact she meets sports Dr Aaron Conners (Bill Hader) who she ends up having feelings for.

In many ways, Trainwreck is a traditional rom-com that's bathed in an acerbic light thanks to the current pop culture icon that is Amy Schumer.

Complete with a lot of female identifiable comedy and a spunk that's all-encompassing, Schumer makes a relatively good fist of this - both as a writer and as an actor.

The eulogy she delivers for her father is both powerful and painfully truthful, a fact that Schumer's brand of occasionally foul-mouthed comedy is particularly fond of embracing. But there's also a good deal of honesty and heart in the story too; the bond between her and the relatively straight Hader feels realistic, as does the relationship with her sister (played by Short Term 12's Brie Larson) and the one with her father.

And the broad brush strokes of reality (albeit exaggerated at times) and self-effacing touches that she covers herself in means that a large chunk of the female audience will identify with this depiction of a woman on Hollywood's canvas - there's a confidence to Schumer that's infectious and that's laugh-out-loud contagious, despite the occasional depths of vulgarity that she mines.

While the plethora of sports faces will mean that this resonates more with US audiences, there's a vicarious thrill to seeing LeBron James doing the conventionally / unconventional as a version of himself who loves Downton Abbey and delivering some deadpan lines; equally a barely recognisable Tilda Swinton as a Catherine Tate version of a magazine editor has a blast - and John Cena, Marisa Tomei, Matthew Broderick and Daniel Radcliffe all prove game too.

It's fair to say that the usual Apatow formula in these films is strictly adhered to and means there are a lot of scenes where there's close to free-form babbling and ad-libbing that occasionally misses the point and there's certainly a feeling that an expeditious edit could have trimmed some of the bloat from the ragged edges of Trainwreck.

However, there's no denying that Trainwreck is squarely Amy Schumer's vehicle (certainly the closing sequence makes the price of admission worth it alone), a take on an old-fashioned film that may surprise and occasionally apall some in equal measure.

Rating:

That Sugar Film: Blu Ray Review

That Sugar Film: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent

This documentary, which screened at the New Zealand International Film Festival's annual Autumn Events gala weekend is looking to capitalise on the polemic themes launched years back by Morgan Spurlock.

This time, it's Aussie director Gameau, a kind of Johnny Barker / Russell Brand lookalike, who decides that having foregone sugar for years, he will now eat 40 teaspoons of the white stuff a day as an experiment to see what effect it will have on him.

With a new born on the way, Gameau's keen to show it's sugar not anything else that's the food demon, so complicit in the global boom of obesity and sugars within so-called low fat food and their healthy ilk. So, Gameau decides to eat only the so-called healthy food to see what effect that will have on him as he negotiates his 60 days' quest.

That Sugar Film is no Supersize Me.

Gameau is an eminently watchable type with his outlook driving the high paced film along, but he seems a little awash with what exactly he wants to say with this doco - and more importantly, how he wants to say it.A lack of science proving his facts and experimental conjecture derail the movie, which revels in some didactic interludes from the likes of Stephen Fry but goes for easy laughs - such as his sucking down an energy drink while attending pre-natal classes with his girlfriend - rather than using the research and science to validate his opinions.

There are moments which land though - a 17-year-old American youth called Larry whose addiction to soft drink Mountain Dew has left him with rotten teeth undergoes a Marathon Man style dentist visit that will have some squirming and others shouting at his mother who claims never wanting her son to be hurt but never stopped him drinking it; and an examination of an Aborigine community (and its scheme Mai Wiru) that's been ravaged by their addiction to Coca-Cola shock.

But there's nothing in this film that personal advocacy and common sense couldn't prevail over (maybe, perhaps that is the point, there's a lack of personal responsibility in this day and age); there's certainly no real smoking gun evident other than a series of conjecture and some candy coated hypothesis. It's all wrapped up in some pretty sweet visual stylings; talking heads emerge from food containers and espouse arguments and some graphics reek of their ADD stylings to appeal to the young.

As a beginner for debate, That Sugar Film is a reasonable place to start; there's no denying the consumption of sugar affects Gameau's moods, waistline and outlook, but a lack of a real robust argument - or any comments from any of the companies peddling low fat wares - means this isn't as sweet as perhaps it could be.
Rating:

The Man From U.N.C.L.E: Film Review

The Man From U.N.C.L.E: Film Review

Cast: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris
Director: Guy Ritchie

Eschewing typical blockbuster tropes for something more stylish and ultimately more original, Lock, Stock and Snatch director Guy Ritchie's take on the 1960s TV series which spanned 105 episodes and starred David McCallum and Robert Vaughn, sees the Cold War hot up again.

Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer)

Against a backdrop of freezing relations in the 1960s, Henry Cavill plays American spy Napoleon Solo (all sharp-suited and chiseled jaw) who's forced to pair up with Russian counterpart Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer, all scowling and simmering brooding tension) to work against a mysterious criminal organisation who potentially is about to launch a nuclear bomb.

Their only lead is Gabby Teller (Alicia Vikander, cementing her status as rising star) as they race against time to save the world.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E is a stylish affair, greatly steeped in 60s spy nostalgia and fashion, and feels like a veritable cha-cha-cha of a movie as it dances around the screen.

While the main plot involving the bad guys could certainly have done with a bit of beefing up and the femme fatale played by Elizabeth Debicki is unfortunately more vacant blonde than immediate threat, the execution of the taut action sequences is elegantly despatched by Mr Ritchie's directorial flourishes.

One such touch sees an island raid near the end of the film creatively confined to split screen moments, showing sections of the concurrent action and raid but never the full money shot - in a genre that's been dominated by CGI overkill or explosions a-plenty, it's a bravura detail from Guy Ritchie, a sign of the intelligence and smart framing that's been put to refreshingly good use on this film.

Equally, one water-set chase sequence plays with expectations to quirkily offbeat effect and succeeds in subverting the usual tropes of such films.

Alicia Vikander is Gabby Teller in The Man From U.N.C.L.E

(Though, irritatingly in the denouement of the film, Ritchie replays some plot points to over-emphasise the subtleties of the plot and the hand-guiding is more counter-productive than inspiring given the scenes in question have barely just taken place)

Of the leads, Vikander is the essence of cool as Teller and certainly the plot twists and turns befit her towards the end given how she's sidelined early on; Cavill's stiffly precise American accent has traces of Robert Vaughn's original agent Solo but he plays a little too emotionless throughout - it has its benefits though when called upon to play some of the comedy moments that crop up from time to time.

As his Russian counterpart, Hammer spends a little too much time glowering and scowling to imbue Kuryakin with many other dimensions, but it's fair to say that perhaps both of the leads could have done with a little more softening and a little less aloofness to endear them to an audience. But with hints of bickering and tension, there are certainly elements of the buddy movie genre within, even if they're not fully realised or fleshed out and are a little too serious at times. Granted, the whole thing could do with a liberal sprinkling of chemistry to really make it come together and some uneasy tension between east and west to make it crackle.

In many ways, The Man From U.N.C.L.E feels like an extended pilot for a new franchise; back-story on the two leads is despatched by briefings that serve as both exposition and introduction, catching those of us unfamiliar with the original series up to date.

But it's in its execution that Guy Ritchie has set this rather unique film apart from all other contenders within a crowded genre.

Its lack of showiness when compared to the recent Mission Impossible Rogue Nation, which is all sound and bluster, sets it greatly and welcomely apart. Mixed with high fashion, sultry jazz and a 60s European OST as it globetrots, means The Man From U.N.C.L.E certainly has got the hallmarks of a refreshingly cool take on the increasingly tired action blockbuster genre.

Rating:

Citizenfour: DVD Review

Citizenfour: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent

Whistleblower, patriot, traitor, hero.

All of these have been levelled at the subject of the Oscar nominated documentary, CitizenFour, Edward Snowden.

Whether you believe the information or whether you back the theory that if there's nothing to hide then there's nothing to fear, there can be nothing more incendiary than the Edward Snowden revelations.

The disclosure that the Obama adminstration was deeper into invading personal privacy than was believed forms the basis of CitizenFour - and more specifically, the unspooling on screen of the instigator of the leaks, Edward Snowden.

Film-maker Laura Poitras has captured lightning in a bottle in some ways with this, her third doco about personal freedoms and reporting in post 9/11 America, as she manages to chronicle the real time unspooling of Snowden's claims and the releasing of them into the international conscience.

Central to CitizenFour is the eight day hotel siege in June 2013 when Snowden unleashed his claims anonymously via Glenn Greenwald and first stunned the incumbent adminstrations. You could be forgiven for thinking Snowden was some kind of Machievellan plotter lurking in the shadows, rubbing his hands in glee at the unveiling of such bombshells, but Poitras' doco is at pains to show the man as he is, with no histrionics and OTT editing in place to either canonise or demonise the man in any way shape or form.

In fact, the simple unveiling of facts (a lot of facts, almost too much for those not in the least bit au fait with the claims) is the basis of this calm doco, which simply follows events rather than shaping them or fuelling any kind of sentiment.

On that front, CitizenFour is an interesting piece, one which will lead to hyperbolic claims that it's one of the most important documentaries of our time, because of the subject matter.

It's perhaps more interesting that the film itself does little to reveal too much more of the man or those around him - the government is always a shady presence in the piece, seen to be acting off camera with malice aforethough and Snowden himself is a man caught up in a potential maelstrom that he's not fully considered the implications of.

Occasionally though, Poitras peppers her relatively dry piece with some personality and humour; Snowden himself types his password while cloaked under a veil (to prevent over-analysis and digital interpretation of keystrokes); equally, a series of fire alarm tests in the building provoke Snowden to unplug the phone. These could be the actions of a true paranoid man but with calm presentation, Poitras grounds Snowden in a humanity that's relatable and perhaps, sympathetic.

Claims at the end that POTUS is possibly implicated by a new source hang without any follow up (a frustrating symptomatic fact of this doco is that it doesn't reward the casual viewer at all); it's technically well put together, relatively focussed on the global implications of the bombshells, but fails to fully follow up anything; in that way, CitizenFour feels a like a "Day in the life of" piece, which gives you the context of what transpires and why it's happening but with a cold detachedness that's distinctly obvious throughout - even though Snowden's reasoning for not being the story are valid in the context, to make him the subject of the doco and not fully explore that isn't totally seizing on what's available.

While CitizenFour is likely to take the Best documentary category at the Oscars this year, it feels like the documentary adheres very strictly to the codes of its genre which is to its detriment; there's little other than a documenting of facts which makes this feel a little too aloof to be the incendiary bombshell it clearly wants to be.

Rating:

Shaun The Sheep: Blu Ray Review

Shaun The Sheep: Blu Ray Review

If there's anywhere that a movie about sheep is likely to succeed, it's here in good ole New Zealand.

The latest from Aardman Animations sees the titular Shaun The Sheep garnering his five minutes of big screen fame to produce a warmly comic and family outing that's nothing less than shear fun (if a little wooly in places), and which recalls in parts Chicken Run.

Expanded out from the 7 minute shorts that have been so successful on TV, the movie sees Shaun determined to break out from his normal routine down on the farm with Bitzer the dog and the Farmer.

But when Shaun's attempts to get a day off go awry and the farmer ends up in the big city with amnesia, the group flocks to try and find their owner and restore the balance down the farm.

However, standing in their way is the unfamiliarity with the city life and an animal control inspector determined to lock Shaun and his pals up.

Shaun The Sheep: The Movie is a blast, a sign that innocence and simplicity can triumph over any kind of cinematic cynicism.

Packing in some truly brilliant sight gags that appeal universally is no mean feat, but as Aardman's shown in the past with Wallace and Gromit et al, their MO is clearly aimed at the original and amusing, with this latest outing raising the baa quite considerably while never forgetting the heart.

Essentially, this is a silent movie, with no dialogue other than grunts and a few bleats here and there; but make no mistake, this silence of the lambs speaks louder than any of its ilk, thanks to an understanding of classic silent films, slapstick humour and just a great self-awareness over the British way of life. Highlights include a baa-bershop quartet, various gags involving the ongoing divide between town and country, a great trick to get everyone to fall asleep (involving counting sheep), mocking celebrity stylings and a Hannibal Lecter gag.

Shaun The Sheep: The Movie has just an insistence on ensuring everyone has a good time, with heart and humour well placed throughout.Aardman's excelled themselves again with the love pouring from every frame and with every single expression saying more than a thousand words ever could.

Laced with charm and charisma, worries that Shaun skews young and with a smaller scale are misplaced; this family movie hits all the highs and never outstays its 85 minute duration. It's a bright, breezy breath of uncomplicated cinematic fresh air.

When it comes to Shaun The Sheep: The Movie, ewe'd be utterly baa-rmy to miss it.

Rating:

Newstalk ZB Movie Review - Fantastic Four, Amy and It Follows

Newstalk ZB Movie Review - Fantastic Four, Amy and It Follows

This week, it was Josh Trank's reboot of the Fantastic Four, the fantastic Asif Kapadia's take on Amy Winehouse and the fanastic It Follows.

Take a listen below - and one of these things is actually not fantastic at all.

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-fantastic-four-amy-it-follows/

Still Life: DVD Review

Still Life: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent

The wonderful Eddie Marsan stars in this beautifully poignant drama.

Marsan is John May, a quietly unassuming man who's spent his 22 years at the South London council trying to help those who've died alone. His job is finding next of kin and trying to get them to funerals that he's organised. But in many cases, there is nobody - so John is the one who stands there alone, writing eulogies and farewelling those who have moved on.

But, despite the thoroughness and the attention to detail with which he runs his world, the council decides his job is no longer necessary and makes him redundant. He's given three days to close his last case - and prepare for the inevitable...

Still Life is an utterly wonderfully English film that reeks of sentiment and heart. thanks to the carefully measured and precise performance delivered by Marsan. Each case is meticulously investigated and every lead pursued with the forensic precision of a criminal investigator. With his gentle touch, nuanced performance and ensuring every single moment counts, Marsan is a tragic joy to watch in this. Every sequence with him aches with pathos and heart - and it's all down to the work done by Eddie Marsan.

While the investigation of the last case perhaps inevitably heads toward a saccharine conclusion, it still doesn't lose any of its power and certainly the last act had me wiping away a tear as the speeches, reflections and observations on life continue to hit him time and time again. It's also the eye for the details as well which hit perfectly - from a flat of the deceased that's got drying laundry hanging from everywhere to a head impression in a pillow which will no longer be used, every last moment is perfectly positioned and executed.

"You're a rare thing, Mr May" is one of the lines uttered in this piece, and it could be said of Eddie Marsan, who delivers an unassuming tour de force in this. 

Recommended as a reminder why life counts and why the small man is an ambition to aim for. 
Rating: