Joker trailer arrives

Joker trailer arrives

Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Joker” stars Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, alongside Oscar winner Robert De Niro, and is directed, produced and co-written by Oscar nominee Todd Phillips.

“Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.



JOKER also stars Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Marc Maron, Bill Camp, Glenn Fleshler, Shea Whigham, Brett Cullen, Douglas Hodge and Josh Pais.

JOKER releases in New Zealand on October 3, 2019.

Pet Sematary: Film Review

Pet Sematary: Film Review

Cast: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimitz, John Lithgow, Jete Lawrence
Director: Kevin Kolsch, Dennis Widmyer

The 2019 remake of Pet Sematary knows what it wants to do.

But unfortunately, in parts, its weaker characters and wider film squanders some of the chance of doing it so.

Clarke and Seimetz play Louis and Rachel Creed, parents who've relocated to the apparently idyllic countryside for an easier life, and to spend time with their young family.

However, when their cat Church is killed by a passing truck, Louis finds an offer of a burial from neighbour Judd (Lithgow, in venerable and stoic form) too irresistible to refuse....and before they know it, their world's changed in ways they could never have imagined.

Pet Sematary may have big themes such as dealing with death and the wider effects of grief, but it squanders most of the well-done earlier edges in favour of traditional jump scares, brooding and foreboding  and creepy edges.

The final result is that parts of the plot creak with the silliness that's clearly been imbued in them by the original pulpy schlocky page turner from Stephen King. And while parts of the movie deviate from the book, the 2019 version is more a portmanteau of jump scares and creepy scenes, rather than a coherently paced story.

That's not to say when they come, the jump scenes don't work, but towards the back half of the film, the scares border on the silly rather than the horrific and sequences which should be terrifying end up more laughable than anything.

Pet Sematary follows the Stephen King writing MO - it has a great set up, but the final portion falls over under either close scrutiny or the weight of what it's been set up for. It's not that the 2019 version isn't unentertaining enough, it's just that paper-thin characters with largely underexplored themes don't create enough of an engaging finale, and wider themes are used solely as a lazy crutch for scares.

Ultimately, the 2019 Pet Sematary is to be lauded for some initial creepiness, and some unnerving moments that catch you off guard. It's just that in the final wash, the schlock overwhelms the B-movie edges and drowns it in a madness that's hard to shake.

Sorry to Bother You: DVD Review

Sorry to Bother You: DVD Review

Possibly this year's most biting satire, Sorry To Bother You's ramshackle approach to its story wields unlikely dividends for an audience looking for more beneath the surface.

Get Out's Stanfield plays Cassius Green, a down on his luck unemployed man searching for work.

Conning his way into a telemarketing job, sakjfdsfds learns that there's money to be had by putting on a white man's voice and selling. So against the odds, and desperate to get out of living in his garage
with his supportive girlfriend Detroit (Thompson, on fire form), Green takes the advice on board - and it works.

Swiftly rising in the corporate world, Cassius finds his life at odds due to his former telemarketer colleagues protesting conditions. But there's much more going on at the mysterious company than Green realises...

There's a lot to digest in Sorry To Bother You, a savage indictment of the underclasses in America and also building on the work done by last year's Get Out.

Boots Riley's frankly indefinable film offers many joys in many ways, and will reward a second viewing with more finer details to be picked up. Suffice to say that Stanfield anchors it with a great deal of heart and innate likeability as the gonzo approach to the film veers into both creative and lunatic territory with veritable aplomb.

There's something of a Twilight Zone here, and an alternate universe as tsadjdsakdsak's world descends into a place of utter disbelief - be it the reality of what's going on where he works, or the commentary on the dumbing down of TV and the reality TV craze that continues unabated.

But Riley's smart enough to pepper these elements throughout, causing viewers to find much for discussion once the lights have gone and once the unease over what's happened has cleared.

Ultimately, Sorry To Bother You may be 2018's most unconformist and subversive ride, but it's also one of 2018's most compelling too - just don't be surprised if the final feeling is one of sickening nausea as you begin to accept reality's coming as close to anything insane produced within. 

Beautiful Boy: DVD Review

Beautiful Boy: DVD Review

Beautiful Boy's take on crystal meth addiction aims for powerful tale, but presents a somewhat sanitised take on the tale, albeit blessing it with two strong leads.

Based on the memoirs Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff, van Groeningen's drama is aimed more at the middle classes unaware of the problems of rehab and addiction.

Carell, in downbeat dramatic mode, plays Sheff, who discovers his son Nic (Call Me By My Name's Timothee Chalamet) is taking drugs and who tries everything to turn him around. But this once close relationship is frazzled and fraught on the journey, in turn causing Sheff's family to be put through the ringer.

Looping nicely between the past and the present, the then and the now of their central relationship, Carell and Chalamet conjure up something special in many ways. Their bond feels natural and real, even if at times, they feel more like brothers than father and son; scenes such as Nic rocking out to Nirvana while David watches on in the car do much to build the bond and closeness before the addiction ripples through their life and damages it irrevocably.

In truth, there's little here that people who've seen addiction stories before won't know about - and the film's desire to portray the events unfolding is done in such a beige way and an almost hesitant approach to condemn the drugs' use that it mutes the final emotional impacts beyond repair, and makes what should be harrowing lesser than it actually is.

At times, it's maddening because of it.

Van Groeningen litters the screen with some beautiful vistas, some touching scenes which display the erosion of trust between father and son, and the heartbreaking feeling of the family left behind; it's almost honest in its empathy, even if it does fail to stir something deeply within.

There's an intriguing use of white noise at key moments, a sound where it feels like the pumping of the veins are overwhelming what's being heard, and if there's an over-reliance on this at times, it's an effective signalling of intent, a sign of what truly drives an addict and what pushes them over the edge.

But as it trawls through the druggy cliches, and builds towards an obvious conclusion, the inexorable march through blander territory robs you of a feeling of impending tragedy, no matter how great the work done by Chalamet and Carell; these two deliver powerhouse performances which do much to overcome the lesser impact of what should have been a stronger film to behold, a journey to be horrified at and a true-life trauma to have endured. 

Journey's End: DVD Review

Journey's End: DVD Review

Released in New Zealand in time for the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, Saul Dibb's adaptation of RC Sheriff's Journey's End is a harrowing and simple tale of British life in the trenches.

With a stalemate affecting World War I in the spring of 1918, the film's four day period takes in the grim surroundings of Saint-Quentin. As it begins, reality hangs heavily in the air around the trenches; soldiers are wearied by the efforts, fear rules the roost as the inevitable lies ahead and soldiers try to prepare for a push to win the war.

Into this mix comes Asa Butterfield's young Second Lieutenant Raleigh, who uses a family connection to end up on the front line - much to the horror of his friend, Captain Stanhope (Claflin, in a nuanced turn as the company leader).

With word coming from on high that there is to be a big push, the deadline to events on Thursday March 21st, 1918 hang dangerously close at hand, weighing closely on the mind of the borderline alcoholic Stanhope and his Number 2, Lieutenant Osbourne (a wonderfully cast Paul Bettany, who delivers empathy and growing horror with considerable calm and aplomb).

Journey's End is grim in parts.

Through claustrophobic close-ups in the trenches, through to an earthy muddy brown palette, Dibb's adaptation (the fifth of the play since 1928's first with Laurence Olivier) captures the horror of the war, the deteriorating mental strength of those facing catastrophe and death every day, and also the inanity of the conversations masking the truth of what's to come amid the tension.

While the film rarely transcends its play roots throughout visually, the power lies in the restraint and poignancy of the dialogue. Moments of discussion about the most yellow of soups, and the theft of tinned apricots hang next to a truly tear-jerking letter from Osbourne, lamenting the frailty of life, and the undelivered promise of youth caught in the conflict. It's powerful, damning stuff which is more evocative than any war scenes could create.

With a mournful cello OST punctuating the proceedings, Journey's End is a potent mix of humanity and horror, wonderfully acted by a restrained cast, and pulled together by a director aware of what's best needed to sell it.

It is, entirely without a doubt, thanks to one final set piece, a film that leaves you more grateful than you'd realise - and more profoundly moved than a fifth iteration of a piece deserves to

Mortal Engines: DVD Review

Mortal Engines: DVD Review

It may appear a Brexit parable written before the leave Europe campaign gathered steam, but Mortal Engines' pace is there from the get go - even if the subtleties of this revenge-driven tale are not.

Set in a future world after a 60-minute war, and where capitals now roam the world as moving cities hell-bent on devouring each other and resources, Mortal Engines is the tale of scarred orphan heroine Hester Shaw (Hilmar, who makes good fist of her softening from angry teen arc).

Driven by a thirst for revenge against Thaddeus Valentine (Weaving, in a growling, little else role), Shaw finds herself teaming up with Tom Natsworthy (Misfits star Sheehan, pushing for big screen charm) to try and prevent another all-out war.

Meshing steampunk aesthetics, a Terminator vibe, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and pushing it all through a prism of Mad Max Fury Road, games Bioshock and We Happy Few and young adult, Mortal Engines' commitment is to on screen action, rather than in depth character.

And on that front, Rivers and his visual team deliver in spades. The film starts at a rip-snorting pace, with an oversize steam driven "predator city" trying to snare its smaller victim. The cameras pan up and around, delivering a sense of scale that's second to none, and showing the incredible detail of the visual work done on Mortal Engines.

The world-building is also brilliantly visualised with it being clear that plenty of effort has gone into the details of the predator cities and their inhabitants.

Unfortunately, the same can't quite be said about the human characters who are largely underdeveloped and simply exist to shout "Run" or deliver exposition-heavy background dialogue or some of the usual Young Adult clangers. It's a stop/start/stop/start mentality that doesn't quite pay off for the film, especially if you're trying to be made to care about the characters within.

Hilmar delivers a solid turn, showcasing both the anger and suffering of her troubled past, but equally softening; and Sheehan makes a good bid for big screen stardom, even if some of the charisma of the character is underwritten, and saddled with the companion-asking-a-lot-of-questions trope.

Ultimately, on a narrative front, Mortal Engines doesn't do anything you wouldn't expect; at its heart, its core commitment is to action and nothing deeper, and sadly, it suffers a little because of it, feeling like pieces are being pushed together without the ease of a story to propel it along. It achieves the visual style with ease and offers much of the same chase ethic as Mad Max: Fury Road delivered.

More about spectacle than substance, Mortal Engines is sound and fury from the beginning - with just a hint more depth, it could have been the start of a new franchise rather than just some vicarious visuals.

Five Feet Apart: Film Review

Five Feet Apart: Film Review

Cast: Cole Sprouse, Haley Lu Richardson
Director: Justin Baldoni

At times, struggling to justify itself as anything other than an option to sell a MOR soundtrack, Five Feet Apart's particular brand of sick lit is to be lauded for one simple thing - Haley Lu Richardson.

She plays Stella, an OCD Cystic Fibrosis sufferer, who lives in a hospital ward, and suffers from guilt. Also on the ward is Will (Riverdale's Sprouse) a fellow sufferer who's trialling new drugs to see if he can be cured.

But the two grow an inseparable bond, despite initially niggling each other and despite warnings to stay apart as otherwise it could kill them...

Less Fault In Their Stars, more TV soapy medical drama, Five Feet Apart knows exactly what it wants to do - and to be fair, does it admirably enough.

Every dramatic moment and trope of the genre is ticked off as the aching star-cross lovers' duo form their bond from their initial bickering through to their inevitable clash against the authorities. And every moment is sequenced by a soundtrack aimed at amplifying their aching and intensifying the brooding looks between the duo.

Sprouse is fine; he's required to do little except look out from under his hair as he ploughs the vulenrable-yet-caring road laid out for him. But the film's power lies in Haley Lu Richardson, whose expressiveness and open-approach to an at times expository laden "This is what Cystic Fibrosis is" gives the film a kind of heart that it needs as it dives headlong through its overlong and obviously cliched execution.

Baldoni does little behind the camera to make this an essential young adult entrant into the pantheon of the sick-lit genre, but thankfully Richardson's performance guides you along the narrative bumps and cliched melodramatic stumbles as they happen.

Five Feet Apart will be destined to be loved by some teens, and there is a worry that at times the film does over-simplify the complexities of the illness, but it does an admirable job of raising awareness.