Youth: Film Review

Youth: Film Review

Cast: Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, Jane Fonda
Director: Paolo Sorrentino

Following up the Oscar-winning The Great Beauty, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino once again heads into whimsical and philosophical territory with this two hour, occasionally meandering piece.

Caine is famous and retired composer Fred Ballinger, who's holidaying at a sumptuous hotel occupied by quirky individuals, and friends. One of those is screen writer Mick Boyle (Keitel) who's teaching a group of writers how to finish off their screenplay in the hopes of turning it into a film and making his way back to Hollywood.

Ballinger meanwhile, is being courted by the Queen's Emissary (Doctor Who and Inbetweeners star Alex MacQueen) who is on a mission to get the maestro to perform his Simple Songs symphony for Prince Phillip's birthday, because according to the emissary, he never stops listening to the Simple songs. But Ballinger outright refuses, for personal reasons.

Also in the hotel is actor Jimmy Tree (Dano) trying to escape from the role which made him big, and Ballinger's daughter (Rachel Weisz) who's just been broken up with. Plus a portly former footballer who bears an uncanny resemblance to Maradona who just wants to be left alone.

Populated by characters and accentuated versions thereof, Home has moments of extreme beauty and moments of extreme tedium, as the philosophising continues and moments of profundity are unleashed on the audience. And yet at times, thanks to some truly wondrous eye candy and vistas that are committed to the screen, he almost pulls it off as the idiosyncracies are dialled up to 11. (A scene where the maestro sits alone in a field full of cows and conducts them, with their cowbells ringing springs squarely to mind - some will adore this indulgence, others will despise it)

With ruminations on ageing and people's place in the world, this is Caine's film by far, his almost mullet-like grey hair and sunken eyes suggesting a life well lived and occasionally regretted. As the acceptance of truths storyline progresses, all the other supporting players fade away into inconsequence which is a real shame - Keitel's ultimate fate never really has the gravitas that it should and Weisz's humane role as the woman scorned falls further out of the director's orbit.

That's some of the problem of Youth, a film whose mournful and reflective tone seems to have nowhere to go and is trapped in its own esoteric and quirky surroundings, a sort of Grand Budapest Hotel for the OAP population. Perhaps this kind of film works better in foreign language where the words drip with a beauty that's hard to translate to English; no matter, though, Youth with its occasionally deep vein of humour and endless philosophy works on some levels, but not others.

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Results: DVD Review

Results: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent

Those expecting a mumblecore classic from the director of Computer Chess Andrew Bujalski will be completely upended by this rom-com with a prestige cast.

Centring on two personal trainers in a gym Kat and Trevor, played by Marvel stalwart Cobie Smulders and Guy Pearce, it's the story of Danny (a very laconic Kevin Corrigan) who ends up at the Power 4 Life gym when he ends up being dumped.

Divorced and minted, he's the very epitome of boredom - in fact, he hits up local chatrooms at night to offer $200 for someone to come round and hook up his big screen TV. But his desire to hook up is taken to the next level when he meets up with Kat, who offers him home improvement fitness training.

Uptight Kat is solely focussed on her work but Danny has other plans in the only way he knows how - in his shambling and amusing fashion, he starts to work away at her defences.

Meanwhile, Trevor is keen to expand his empire and the cash Danny is sitting on, proves to be just the opportunity he needs...

Results is not exactly anything approaching the film that Computer Chess was (which is perhaps a good thing as I was not one of those singing its praises) and is in fact as close to mainstream as you can possibly get with the romantic comedy genre.

While there are moments that feel looser and improvised in the script, giving you more the feel of the movement as a whole, it's fair to say that Results at times shambles and ambles toward its destination. That it gets there greatly on the charm of its leads (particularly the under-rated Corrigan) is not to damn it with faint praise, merely to highlight the fact that this is perhaps one of the lighter entrants into the festival.

But equally, it doesn't all quite gel together - Danny's story gets a little lost in the final mix and Trevor's meeting with a Russian bodybuilder (bizarrely played by Anthony Michael Hall) and his oppressed girl (Brooklyn Decker) are just two of the ingredients that feel slightly under-cooked.

Not only do physiques get worked out in Results, but so too do relationship issues (perhaps, unsurprisingly) ; it's all gently told and ironed out in a wry manner, and you won't be surprised to see everyone is messed up in their own ways. That it doesn't quite convince in parts and skirts the mainstream rather than the indie that Bujalski's been known for, gives it the cred that it needs to be part of the festival - and may provoke the debate and perhaps disappointment in equal measure in his followers that the festival thrives on long after the lights have gone up. 

Goosebumps: Film Review

Goosebumps: Film Review

Cast: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Amy Ryan, Odeya Rush
Director: Rob Letterman

Given the popularity of the 62 odd children's horror novellas by American writer R L Stine, the film of Goosebumps has a lot of readers to satisfy.

But by cleverly using the scares that make the series so popular and not dumbing them down, the Goosebumps movie is a smart, occasionally nightmarish trip and scary take on the typical story of the new boy moving to a new town and trying to fit in.

That boy is Dylan Minette, whose Zach has moved to the small backwater of Madison where his mum (Amy Ryan) is taking up the deputy principal-ship of the high school. But Zach finds his attention focussed on the girl next door (Odeya Rush) whose father (Jack Black) keeps her home schooled and locked up a night a la Rapunzel.

However, when Zach breaks in to investigate what he believes to be a domestic, he discovers the father is actually the famed horror writer R L Stine. And things get more complicated when Zach inadvertently lets loose a monster from the pages of Stine's books...

Using a mix of CGI, comedy horror and old school scares, Goosebumps works cleverly to keep its audience entertained without ever stooping to the lazy cliches and writing.

While the kids are most likely to be taken in by the suspense and the chase set pieces, adults will find some joys too in this Rear Window / The Blob / Zathura / The Shining / IT pastiche, which revels in meta-commentary about book sales, Stephen King and writing - it even throws in a Gulliver's Travels sight gag too as gnomes tether Black down.

Black channels madcap as Stine, but keeps it on the right side of not going OTT and also does a great job as the menacingly homicidal mannequin, Slappy, the main villain of the piece (and fave of the book series). Minnette continues his road to fame as the likeable Zach (who has a great bond with his mother) and Rush manages the part well, but the pair lack some of the chemistry which feels forced upon them; there's the obligatory comedy sidekick in Ryan Lee's champ to get you through the mix of jump scares and tension.

The FX are reasonable; certainly when the words spring to life off the page and bring the creatures into the world, it's a great effect, though later on there are moments when the film starts to creak. Equally, there's a lot of simply chasing around which does grow a little repetitive towards the end as if the story itself is running ever so slightly out of steam.

But all in all, Goosebumps succeeds in a self-aware wave of nostalgia for the books' source material and a reverence to what makes them so popular - they simply set out to scare their readers and offer entertainment; it's something which the film manages in great spades of both parody and B-movie moments.

As we head to the end of the year and movie fatigue is on the verge of setting in, it may actually give you Goosebumps because of how good it actually is.

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Better Call Saul: Blu Ray Review

Better Call Saul: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Sony Home Ent

Spun off from Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul was always going to have a heap of expectation resting on its shoulders.

Starring Bob Odenkirk as James Morgan, the lawyer who defended Bryan Cranston's Walter White, Better Call Saul looks at events six years before the original series happened.

Over 10 eps, the show's quirkiness comes to the fore as several Breaking Bad characters appear from within; and the series sees Saul involved in various cons and crossing various paths.

Nicely written, brilliantly acted by Odenkirk and written by Vince Gilligan, the series rattles along at a reasonable pace; there are moments that recall the original series and the appearance of many Easter Eggs for fans is a clear nod to the Breaking Bad series.

But it emerges as its own beast, demonstrating a darkness and rich story-telling that allows it to stand alone and entice viewers to Walter White's World as well. But it's also the relationship between Saul and his brother Chuck that forms the heart of this show as well as keeping you engaged by its own stories and moments that make you sit up.

Mad Men Season 7 Part 2: Review

Mad Men Season 7 Part 2: Review

Rating: M
Released by Sony Home Ent

So, the end comes for Don Draper and the gang with the release of Season 7 Part 2 of Mad Men.

Those expecting closure for the mystery of Jon Hamm's Don Draper may not get exactly what they want, but the smooth series has never really been full on delivering tons of answers, preferring to let the enigma of the Don talk for itself.

Starting off in the 1970s, the show's final run concerns itself more with Draper's existential crisis and his womanising ways which come full circle in some ways, but in a way that the audience readily identifies with and was on board with since the start of the series.

Adopting the Six Feet Under montage ideology, the series' conclusion is nicely pulled together, but fuels further debate and discussion about how it exactly ended and why it ends the way it does. There's a quiet catharsis for all the characters in some ways and many of the threads end as you'd potentially expect.

But the series' ultimate conclusion belongs to Hamm, a man whose role has become his own and whose ownership of Mad Men is nothing short of iconic. With a closing scene that sparks more questions than it answers, the smooth world of advertising is brought to an end - and another TV show joins the pantheon of greats.

Newstalk ZB Review - The Program, Creed and Amy

Newstalk ZB  Review - The Program, Creed and Amy

This week with Jack Tame, I was chatting the new Lance Armstrong movie, a brand new Rocky film called Creed and on DVD took a look at the Amy Winehouse movie.

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-the-program-creed/

Self/ Less: Blu Ray Review

Self/ Less: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent


From the director of The Cell and Immortals, comes a sci-fi tinged drama that has a great central premise, but some poor execution.

Ben Kingsley is Damien Hale, a dying New York real estate magnate and estranged father to Claire (Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery), who decides death isn't enough for him and that he wants to do more with his life. So thanks to a shadowy company and a Faustian pact involving shedding his previous body, he discovers there's a way to transfer his consciousness into a newer younger body - and unsurprisingly, he takes that opportunity.

But when he wakes up in a new body (in the form of a perma-scowling Ryan Reynolds) he soon discovers the company and the transfer are not all they appear to be, thanks to flashes and a conspiracy unfolding before him.

Over-long, tonally muddled and betraying its a mind is a great thing to waste premise, Self / Lessis just a film that doesn't quite know what it wants to do with itself.

Losing Ben Kingsley after the first 10 minutes is an inevitable narrative necessity, but still doesn't help the film on its way. With his New York accented venal mogul clearly being the best part of it, the film struggles to continue in the wake of his disappearance, setting on a course for mediocrity and predictability rather than exploring the morality of a great premise.

Meshing Flatliners with parts of Quantum Leap may have seemed like a reasonable idea, and to be fair to Singh, the visuals of the locations and the sensory flashbacks soar as ever in one of his films. However, the human element of the drama is undersold by a muted Reynolds who never really seizes on the promise of a second life and it's never fully helped by an apparent complete attitude change from the man who's inhabiting his body.

The problem comes in the script which is predictable as you'd expect and starts to play like a list of things to be ticked off, rather than invested in emotionally as Reynolds' character meets up with his past and former wife and child.

Ultimately, Self / Less becomes a trudge through its Twilight Zone idea rather than an interesting journey - thanks in part to Reynolds and some badly put together scripting, it's a fairly soulless saunter through a great sci-fi premise.

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