The Greasy Strangler: NZIFF Review

The Greasy Strangler: NZIFF Review

Best suited to a midnight screening rather than a more temperate Thursday afternoon's viewing, Jim Hosking's The Greasy Strangler is definitively lurid and trashy.

But it's also a test of an audience's patience, with repetitive scenes, oft-repeated dialogue (from arguments) and looped soundtrack interludes.

It's a conventional story about an unconventional father and son relationship - of co-habiting Big Ronnie and Brayden, the pink wearing disco tour kings of a small town. By day, the duo lead people on tours of areas claiming that's where parts of disco were invented, or where "The Earth, The Wind and The Fire" set up shop.

But by night, Michael St Michaels' Big Ronnie has a secret - he likes to get slopped down in grease and go on a killing spree...

And things are further complicated when Sky Elobar's Brayden falls for Janet....

The Greasy Strangler certainly has the power to leave speechless and will polarise audiences.

With its lo-fi feel, its schlocky gross-out edges and its penchant for older male nudity, it's certainly there for pressing the buttons.

Coupled with the repetition of the lo-fi dialogue that taps into the clear streams of consciousness rhythms that Hosking is clearly aiming for with some of it feeling like it's barely being delivered with any hint of anything other than over-acting, there's potentially something meta going on here.

And yet, this is a film that clearly knows what it is, how low it can go and how its audience will react - either embracing all of this with puerile chutzpah or being turned off completely. There's no middle ground in this polarising piece which doesn't bother to give you such trivial things as to why this greased up monster is killing, preferring to settle for scatalogical laughs that really do mine the essences of relationships in many ways.

Slopped down in congealed gloop, St Michaels' Big Ronnie is a Swamp Thing type creature, that exerts such force, his victims' eyeballs literally pop out. When his killing's done and before heading home, he takes a trip to a local car wash run by a blind guy to clean up.

If that doesn't tell you all you need to know about The Greasy Strangler, nothing will.

Scenes dovetail into the next with the dialogue of a teen argument and always culminate in a who can shout the loudest and the rudest; if you're on board with that, then this surrealism and silliness is for you to lard it up over everyone else. It has to be said though, the romance between Brayden and Janet has a sweetness and the triangle that forms is quite cleverly put together - with more being said under the surface than is fully put on screen.

The Greasy Strangler is a perverse film in many ways, and one suspects its film making team (including gonzo supremo Ant Timpson and Elijah Wood) takes a perverse pleasure from the fact it's designed to leave you speechless. It's also probably destined for cult status with large swathes of its dialogue being written solely  for being ripped out and hurled at fans by other fans as wanton catchphrases.

It's a singular NZIFF experience, of that there is absolutely no doubt.

And given what the film-makers probably set out to do, this unconventional rom-com, typical boy meets girl, boy suspects dad is greased up killer, delivers everything it sets out to in the trashiest way possible.

Midnight Special: NZIFF Review

Midnight Special: NZIFF Review

Michael Shannon and director Jeff Nichols were responsible for a formative film festival experience when Take Shelter aired in 2011.

This time around, after more earthly concerns with Tye Sheridan in Mud, Nichols and Shannon re-team for what's essentially a sci-fi Spielbergian earth set chase story.

Shannon is Roy, who, as the film begins, is on the run, sparking a manhunt when he takes his supposedly-blessed-with-super-powers young son Alton (Jaeden Liberher) from a cult compound. Aided by childhood friend Lucas (Animal Kingdom's Joel Edgerton), the search for the pair is frantic, especially when the FBI and National Security team up after some disturbing anomalies are brought to light...

There's an all pervading sense of mystery to Midnight Special that sustains large chunks of the proceedings.

Much like the brilliant Take Shelter, Midnight Special revels in ambiguity for the large part, teasing out moments and dripping out answers when least expected. But it's the human element of this chase flick that ground it so sensibly in a reality and these are excellently executed by the triumvirate of Shannon, Liberher and Nicholls.

However, the suspense is always evident and while the ultimate resolution may prove to be polarising, the relationship between father and son proves central to proceedings. Shannon is never less than watchable throughout and his love for son and reasons for doing what he does are never hard to understand.

Nicholls is also the star here, ratcheting up tension and playing with the sci-fi tropes and teases with remarkable ease. He's also got an incredible way of yanking the rug from under you, with a couple of moments smacking you upside the solar plexus.

While it's perhaps fair to say Nicholls is still chasing the high of the giddiness of Take Shelter's bravura edges, it's also fair to say that Midnight Special lacks some of the prowess of that film.

But in terms of furthering Nicholls' reputation and taking the M Night Shyamalan touches of the story and making them his own, Midnight Special is nothing short of a singular cinematic experience that revels in its tautness and never loses sight of its human edges.

Win a double pass to see Absolutely Fabulous the Movie

Win a double pass to see Absolutely Fabulous the Movie

To celebrate the release of Absolutely Fabulous the Movie on August 11th, here's your chance to win a double pass to see the movie!

Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they are accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around London's trendiest hot-spots. 

Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. 

Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forever more!

Absolutely Fabulous the Movie is IN CINEMAS AUGUST 11

To enter simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com  and in the subject line put AB FAB  

Please include your name and address and good luck!

Competition closes August 11th and is exclusive to New Zealand only!  

The Great Wall trailer is here

The Great Wall trailer is here

Starring global superstar Matt Damon and directed by one of the most breathtaking visual stylists of our time, Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), Legendary’s The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world’s most iconic structure.  

The X Files: Season 10 Review

The X Files: Season 10 Review

Released by 20th Century Fox Home Ent

The latest season of The X Files comes 15 years after the last and represents a tour de force to those involved.

If you were ever touched by David Duchovny’s laconic FBI Agent Mulder and Gillian Anderson’s cooly detached FBI Agent Scully and their yin and yang partnership as they investigated all things unusual in the 90s, the 6 new episodes would practically have made you wet yourself in glee.

The hook with this season was never to dwell on the fine feeling generated by the nostalgia, but to bring a new generation of fans into the fold and to see it on its way to a new lease of life.

And to a degree, it manages that by saddling the delicate balance between using the show’s alien-centric mythology and stand alone eps in this 6 part outing. While the mythology eps remain a little murky and stuffed with their own self importance, (as well as an irritatingly open final ep that lands on a frustrating cliffhanger) the stand alone eps are equally as mixed too.

More effective is Kiwi Rhys Darby’s entering into the pantheon of the quirky X Files eps with Darin Morgan’s Were-monster ep that mixes both pathos and outlandish to good results. Home Again’s bizarre killer is a welcome diversion, but an ep that starts with 2 muslims bombing an art gallery feels oddly at evens with the show’s usual sensitivities.

But if anything, the limited event series benefits tremendously from Duchovny and Anderson’s chemistry and the show’s revitalised take on its own premise, which is both nostalgic and current.

The set comes with good solid extras that include a gag reel and a look back at the reboot, that further fuel the show’s love.

If there’s to be any criticism, it’s that 6 eps are too short in many ways – and that the 2 mythology eps would have been stronger over a longer run.

That said, the fact there’s even any extra episodes 15 years on from the end and 23 years after it first started is a small miracle.

The Truth is Still out there and it’s well worth diving back into.

Operation Avalanche: NZIFF Review

Operation Avalanche: NZIFF Review

A found footage film that proves the Moon Landing was fake may sound like a joke too far, but director / star Matt Johnson’s relentlessly inventive piece is nothing but a pure blast of cinephile love and an ode to the American space race.

In 1967, it’s the height of the Cold War, and there are concerns Russia’s going to beat America into space. At NASA, there’s an even deeper fear – that a mole has infiltrated their ranks and is stealing secrets.

Enter four undercover CIA agents (helmed by Matt Johnson’s goofball) who convince NASA to let them in under the pretense of filming a documentary about NASA – and who end up pitching the idea of a spoof Moon Landing film to ensure American interests win the day. To their surprise, the CIA says yes….

Endlessly clever and draped in 70s aesthetics with Super 8 footage and an infectious joie de vivre, Operation Avalanche is a film within a film conspiracy and it damn well knows it. But the meta doesn’t become so smart that it’s alienating – in fact, it’s anything but.

By taking the time to build character early on and set you a little off expectations by dishing out off-kilter moments and genuine laugh out loud moments at the geeky group as well as the premise that the CIA would allow a crew to blunder around filming, Operation Avalanche works incredibly well.

Unless you’re a diehard conspiracy theorist, you will love the flourishes in this gonzo film, and to be honest, nobody’s trying to convince you this found film footage is real but that’s not really the point of Operation Avalanche.

Effectively mining the special FX with ease and without obvious joins, there are authentic feeling moments which provoke marvel on a technical level – via Shepperton Studios and Stanley Kubrick. However, it’s not just these moments which stand out in Operation Avalanche.

Johnson’s created a group of likeable guys, spearheaded by his own giddy boy’s own chutzpah and it’s infectious. So much so that the final act of the film becomes a tensely filled nail biter of a finale creating as real a sense of terror as any decently done spinetingler of found footage horror can muster.

By never losing sight of the humanity in this space race shaggy dog story, Operation Avalanche is terribly evocative and effective. Clever and intelligently plotted within its layers within layers, it may be the smartest mass appeal found footage the New Zealand International Film Festival audience has seen.

Unless it proves to be true.

Jason Bourne: Film Review

Jason Bourne: Film Review

Cast: Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Riz Ahmed, Julia Stiles, Vincent Cassel
Director: Paul Greengrass

Solid, yet formulaic and workman like, the latest Bourne is anything but spectacular.

In the latest non-essential part of the series, which unpicks all the neatly tied up threads of the series, Damon is a dogged Bourne, a machine-like automaton of assassination that's lacking any kind of real dialogue whatsoever.

When former comrade Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) finds Bourne and tells him there's more to his past than he actually realises, Jason Bourne is forced on to a quest to make those pay for the truth...

Nearly 10 years have passed since the The Bourne Ultimatum, and in a world where Wikileaks, Edward Snowden and security have become major issues, it feels like Jason Bourne does a token amount to address such things this time around.

Even with the apparently personal level of this mission this time around, Bourne himself may pull no punches (as a Greece-Albanian fight club sequence demonstrates) but the script is lacking in any kind of real elements of either mystery or urgency.

Throwing in Riz Ahmed as the head of a Facebook style company for little reason other than to facilitate the finale is a missed opportunity; it's a disposable plot thread which dangles undernourished on the narrative vine. 

And unfortunately, despite the re-teaming of Greengrass and Damon to the series, there's much of Jason Bourne which feels similarly wanting and in parts, and sees the film fall into an entirely predictable rut of action and flashbacks.

Despite getting things underway with a simmering riot bubbling out of hand and a hunt for Bourne in Greece at the start, the story loses its impetus soon after as Matt Damon's scarred Jason Bourne walks from place to place, avoiding the bad guys. It's repetitive and hardly builds tension at all as Vincent Cassel's Asset tries to hunt him down at the behest of Tommy Lee Jones' hang-faced CIA director.

The action sequences are assured and measured, but never fully thrilling (with the exception of the aforementioned Greece sequence). Greengrass is more than competent in their execution, with his shaky cam and quick cuts pervading proceedings, but never threatening to derail them. It's a shame that the Vegas finale feels like a rote chase, with car-nage aplenty and muted thrills, rather than edge of your seat stuff.

Fortunately, the addition of Alicia Vikander as Heather Lee, an analyst whose motives are questionable gives the film a bit of spark and stoicism that it needs (as well as a puncture through the old boys club mentality that pervades Bourne). And Damon himself, looking aged and still capable of taking the physical workload, does great things, giving his character a wearied edge of someone lost in the world and trying to find his place within it.

But that's the thing with Jason Bourne; in among the talk of assets, chases, betrayals, fake outs and action, nothing ever feels fresh or enticing in the self imposed sense of seriousness and the idea of solely providing a blast of Bourne nostalgia. 

Fans of the series may get a kick out of the franchise's return, but that's possibly about it. (Also, the fact these former CIA assets don't quite know how to disguise themselves in crowds simply beggars belief...)

Ironically, for a film about an amnesiac assassin, the whole thing about Jason Bourne is that it's instantly forgettable the minutes the lights go up - it's formulaic where it should be fresh, and in parts, flat where it should burst with energy.