Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge On the Run: Film Review 

Cast: Spongebob, Patrick, Squidward, Plankton, Mr Krabs, Keanu Reeves, Matt Berry, Danny Trejo, Snoop Dogg
Director: Tim Hill

That the latest Spongebob Squarepants movie is a Covid-casualty and has ended up on streaming site Netflix is a crying shame.

Especially given how colourful, vibrant and joyous the whole experience is.

Tom Kenny returns as the voice of Spongebob Squarepants, resident of Bikini Bottom. This time around, Spongebob has to head out to rescue his pet snail Gary, when he's kidnapped by king Poseidon (Matt Berry) and taken to the lost city of Atlantic City.

Packed with anarchy, zany edges and a colourful sheen that's highly eye-catching and visually satisfying, Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge On the Run won't win any awards for reinventing the animated wheel.

But it does provide a truly entertaining 90 minutes of pure escapism, as Spongebob and his pals push on through a road trip movie - as ever, Spongebob and Patrick prove good bedfellows, and the journey's amiable enough as the CGI-led insanity spools itself out.

Keanu Reeves is the standout here, a Sage offering in the madness that ensues, and proving more than game as the voice of a ball of sage helping Patrick and Spongebob out. Essentially a head within a ball of sticks and twine, Reeves is clearly having a ball.

There's a fun for all the family vibe here, and while the film starts to run out of steam as it enters its final third, for the most part, Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge On the Run is a zany road trip worth checking in for, and for simply enjoying the ride.

Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge On the Run is streaming now on Netflix in some global territories.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?: DVD Review

With a haughty Cate Blanchett and a meandering script, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? feels like an opportunity weirdly squandered.

Blanchett is former superstar architect Bernadette Fox, who disappeared after having potential to turn the designing world upside down. Settled in with her husband Elgin, (Crudup, amiable and occasionally over-looked) and their daughter Bee (Nelson in a standout performance for a newcomer), Bernadette is overwhelmed when her daughter requests a trip to Antarctica as a reward.

Already brittle and disinterested in any connection with neighbours or friends, Bernadette is disaffected by the "banality of life". With a work-obsessed husband and a fussing daughter, things reach a crescendo and she disappears when the FBI shows up after she inadvertently floods a neighbour's house with mud....

Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a film that would be nothing without Blanchett's penchant for haughtiness. She's the best thing in the somewhat muddled narrative that veers through indifference to everyone's condition to a screwball farce that clearly aims to bring down some of the more WASPish neighbours and concerns.

There are moments of humour as Blanchett's growing weariness with everyone becomes acerbic and fraught, but Linklater's meandering approach to the story means the audience becomes as disaffected as Bernadette herself.

Equally, a series of cameos from a YouTube video should have been left on the cutting room floor, or beefed up to be more amusing and ludicrous as Bernadette rediscovers her passion.

Unable to decide upon a tone, and stuck with an indifference in the plot, Where'd Do You Go, Bernadette? really only thrives on Blanchett and her alone - other characters have little to no resolution in their arcs as the plot goes toward lunacy and relatively unearned heartwarming sentiment.

Wendy: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Entertainment

Wendy has pedigree in its director, the creator of the wondrous Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Blessed with a prodigious lead in Devin France as Wendy, Benh Zeitlin's take on the Peter Pan story is a film that's more in love with the land and its leads than in its actual storytelling.

When Wendy tires of her life in a railwayside diner, she is startled to see another kid atop a train. Jumping on the train with two friends, she finds herself transported to Neverland and into the life of Peter Pan.

JM Barrie's tale is gifted an environmental feel in among Zeitlin's eye for the wild. 

Through the deltas and over the lands of the heartland of America to the lost island, Zeitlin's freewheeling camera makes a great fist of the landscape, and recalls many of the shots of Beasts of the Southern Wild.

While not every child actor hits the necessary straps, and while the older section of the actors feel too ragtaggle to be complete, the exuberance and wide-eyed nature of France makes for a great companion on this journey.

"The more you grow up, the less you get to do the things you want" may be a fair adage espoused at one point, but thanks to a haunting score, talent when it's needed and a sense of adventure, this is a Peter Pan story like you've never seen before.

Queenstown to become Greenstown for XBox Series S and X on Monday night 

To celebrate the launch of the new XBox Series S and XBox Series X on Tuesday November 10, Queenstown has become the centre of attention.

As part of a marketing push, a live showcase event called Greenstown will take place tonight for XBox ANZ, as we'll be the first in the world to get the new console.

It all kicks off at 11pm.

Fans can tune into the very special ‘Greenstown’ livestream on November 9 at 11:00pm NZDT across Xbox ANZ’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Twitch.

Featuring a first look at all new gameplay, the livestream will be a celebration of the Australian and New Zealand gaming community. 

Powered by the Xbox Series X, fans can tune in to see Eivor, a fierce Viking warrior, explore the dynamic and beautiful open world against the brutal backdrop of England’s dark ages in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla. 

Those who tune in will also see the icy frontier of Europa from Destiny 2: Beyond Light, which holds many lost secrets from the past, including the dark power of Stasis. Guardians will be able to embrace the darkness from November 11.

 

The hour-long live show will include guest appearances from Xbox Executives and some of Australia and New Zealand’s most recognisable content creators, and so much more.

This Town: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Entertainment

The most frustrating thing about David White's dramedy about a killer who's trying to find love in a rural town is that it never quite leans into what exactly it wants to be.

Blending goofy romance a la Eagle vs Shark while ignoring the fact it's heavily based on the David Bain story (a family's found shot dead, one sole survivor and a lot of questions dogging them through the years), This Town had some real potential to launch New Zealand cinema after the onset of Coronavirus crippled the cinematic world.

But This Town doesn't own enough of its ingredients to get it out of the country of quirky characters mire it sets itself into.

It's the tale of Sean (White, a fairly solid and deadpan when needed lead), a suspected murderer who wants to simply find the one. Signing up to a dating app on the advice of mates, Sean meets Alice May Connolly's Casey, one of the few girls who's unaware of Sean's past...

However, in smalltown New Zealand, the past is always around the corner...

Initially, This Town proffers some solid laughs, thanks to the deadpan delivery of lines and actions of a man who's clearly socially at odds with what's expected of him - and some inspired sight gags.

Yet once Robyn Malcolm's determined-to-get-her-man former police officer Pam comes in, the film loses a bit of focus and goes slightly off the rails as the weaker material starts to flail in the wind. It's not to pour scorn on Malcolm's performance, as she shows some strong comedy chops when required - her pairing with Rima Te Wiata as a local crime writer is inspired, but there's not enough of it in the film.

Hints of the comedy potential arrive towards the end with some clearly improvised dialogue pointing frustratingly to what could have been. 

This Town never quite knows what it wants to be, and none more so than when the truth comes out, and the dramatic reveal is played too quickly to have the heft it needed. 

Despite some wonderfully realised bucolic shots, and some adroit capturing of the small-town vibe, some of the issue with This Town lies with the character who should be the lead in it is frequently sidelined, gradually robbing them of the screen time that's needed and emotional arc that's necessary.

Working better for character moments, rather than a cohesive whole, This Town feels more suited to a finely honed web series, rather than a full-length film. It's certainly not a Town you want to reside in long-term.

Monos: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Entertainment

With a visually arresting start and an intriguing opening, Columbian film Monos is an intensely taut drama that is as compelling as it is an examination of the feral spirit that lies within us all.

It's the story of a group of teenage troops, who inhabit a mountain top and who are training. Given a cow and a hostage to look after, the octet descend into a chaotic state when things go awry.

In the scheme of life, what happens is minor, but the ripples are wide-ranging and powerful.

Landes' film holds back many details of the wider world, preferring instead to place the viewer in a world of intensity and a powderkeg waiting to ignite. All that's proffered is about The Organisation and even that's scraps at best.

They could be training as child soldiers, and it could be a parable about loss of innocence in Columbia, but robbed of the wider perspective in parts, Monos makes a struggle of that side of its drama.

However, as an examination of a teenage mini society, Monos is life through a prism, a swirling cauldron of efficiency and terrifying consequence.

Thrillingly shot and nervously scored, Monos gets by largely on its visuals and its inherent sense of unease - there's something compelling afoot in these mountains, and thanks to Landes' power opening, Monos is a sickeningly unsettling drama.

Rams: Film Review

Cast: Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Miranda Richardson

Director: Jeremy Sims

A re-imagining of Grimur Hákonarson's Cannes Award-winning Icelandic movie, Australian director Jeremy Sims' latest offers more of a lighter tale than the bleak original.

Neill and Caton are Colin and Les, two estranged brothers who are at war with each other, and whose quarrels have divided the community. When Colin suspects Les' award-winning ram of having a rare disease, he has no choice but to tell the authorities, setting in motion a purge of the region's sheep and devastating livelihoods potentially for a generation....

The Australian version of Rams is less interested in providing the kind of bleakness that was so redolent of the Icelandic original. 

From broader strokes to an almost comedic performance from an OTT official, the film isn't wanting to wallow in the darkness of the first, that came with both an oppressive Icelandic setting and a grim outlook. But given its desire to reach a wider audience, this is perhaps understandable.

Instead, by setting the film in the Aussie outback with its pristine paddocks and rolling hills, Sims' take on Rams is less nuanced, but nonetheless effective, thanks largely to a stellar performance by Neill as Colin. (Although the ending leaves a lot to be desired.)

Neill delivers a weathered and wearied performance that taps into the farming mindset of less said, more demonstrated - from occasional looks to the heart-rending viscerally numbing moments after he has to slaughter his sheep, Neill delivers a masterclass in understated and builds a character that's both loveable and questionable in some of his antics.

Caton has less to work with but manages to turn in a brother whose anger and resentment has gone beyond my brother's keeper ethos and is tinging on self-destruction. But when needed, he provides a more than adequate foil to interactions with Neill's Colin.

Ultimately, despite the bucolic background, there's still the elegaic feel of the original to Rams, and a slower pace gets to the heart of both the characters and the community affected by the outbreak of disease and the devastation of loss. It may have softer edges than the original, but it has an eye for the subtleties of farm life and those who dwell within it.

There's a rhythm adjustment needed for Rams, but work with it, and it offers a strongly rewarding experience that offers insight into how men behave later in life, and how rural life shapes a certain perspective and outlook.

It may be occasionally stymied by some of its broader comedy strokes, and its desire to err from the darkness blackish comedy within, but given its central performance from Neill, it's eminently watchable.