The Call of the Wild: Neon NZ Film Review

Chris "How To Train Your Dragon" Sanders dials up the beauty of the Yukon for this relatively tried and tested formula story on owning a dog.

Based on the 1903 Jack London novel, The Call of The Wild follows the rambunctious pooch Buck, as he finds himself dognapped and sold into the Yukon wilds to the highest bidder. Initially falling in with Omar Sy's mail courier, and falling foul of the pecking order of the sledding pack, Buck's world appears to be a harsh one as he tries to find his place in the world.

But when he is taken under the wing of Harrison Ford's grieving prospector John Thornton, he finds a different life as he tries to help Thornton come to terms with what life has dealt him.

Essentially The Littlest Hobo mixed in with a very familiar wilderness story and poured through a prism of old time sentimentalities, The Call of the Wild has heart under an uncanny valley CGI dog.

Initially fine, Buck's transmission to the screen soon becomes a little too hyper real (a WWE move on another dog being the defining moment) - but when the film settles, it uses simplicity to convey its heartfelt message of finding your place in the world.

Episodic by nature (Buck's kidnapped, Buck's new owners, Buck's perils among the Snow Dogs) the film lags in its final third, even as it tries to find legs for the true nugget of the tale - Buck's discovery of his wilder side, and how humanity is not for him.

That's a big theme to rest on the film's shoulders, and it doesn't always quite pull it off.

But a grizzled and silent Ford (he's acted with a furry companion to reasonably famous effect before) brings out the film's gentler and more contemplative edge - even if that's partially ruined by Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens hamming it up as the big bad.

There may be stock standard elements of a family film here, and there may be no surprises as the sentiment's piled high enough for mush in this Yukon Tail, but The Call of the Wild may find you feeling more stirred than you would like.

Summerland: Film Review

Cast: Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Courtenay, Lucas Bond

Director: Jessica Swale

You've seen a film like Summerland many, many times before.

The redemptive tale of a recluse brought out of their shell by an unexpected pairing or meeting, a bond forming, and a heartwarming glow dished up on screen.

But yet, Jessica Swale's Summerland may still surprise you with its afterglow, despite any long-buried cynicism you may have, and any reaction to a second-half twist that's incredulous and entirely overly coincidental.

A subtle and nuanced Arterton is Alice, the "beast on the beach" as Tom Courtenay's school teacher dubs her; dubbed by the locals as a Nazi spy, Alice spends her time writing and generally being short and snippy with the locals in her seafront village home of Kent.

When she's forced to take in evacuee Frank (Bond, in an engaging and heartfelt turn) during World War II, she initially refuses, haughtily believing there has been a mistake, and making Frank less than welcome.

But when she decides it's only for a short time, the relationship begins to thaw and Alice finds herself thrust into the past and the memory of a forbidden relationship.

Summerland is bright enough, with plenty of heart and beautifully shot vistas to propel it along in its first two thirds.

Arterton's brusque and at times, wickedly tart, Alice makes a delightfully negative character to hang about with, even if the predictabilities of what the plot contrives can be signalled way off. Managing regret, aching and also loneliness, this tale of feminism and of witch-hunting in small communities is eminently watchable thanks to a subtle Arterton throughout.

Mbatha-Raw brings her usual brightness to her role as Vera, and Bond delivers a delightfully down-to-earth performance as Frank, the kid just trying to find a new home.

While the third act contrivance is a bit too much of a twist initially, the film's inevitable turn into sentiment is relatively nicely handled by Swale both behind the camera and on the writing page. It helps that Arterton sells it, even if some onscreen histrionics don't quite manage to.

Ultimately, Summerland is an intelligent period piece brought vividly to life by its two central characters.  There's a substance lurking below that's easy to break through - as long as you can stomach the contrivances and push on through, like the tried and tested English Blitz spirit.

WandaVision: TV Review

Starts streaming on Disney + on Friday January 15 with 2 episodes, before delivering one a week to a total of 9

Don't come to WandaVision expecting easy and quick answers.

Little's been known about the latest Marvel series that thanks to Covid-19 related delays means the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is actually happening on the small screen - and heralds the start of Marvel being a little weird and loose with their franchise.

The premise is simple - Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen, terrific throughout and able to turn one look of joy into something of pure uncertainty and perhaps fear) and Vision (Paul Bettany, leaning much into the quirk and delivering the comedy throughout) are two suburbanites living in West View, with its perfect picket fences and seemingly wholesome neighbours.

But much like any apparently perfect suburban world, peer closely through the veneer and you'll see something a little more unsettling....

It's an ethos David Lynch has used to chilling effect for many years, and the new series from the Marvel team certainly delivers the oddities. Marvel, as usual, has been wildly quiet with the intricacies of the show, and it's not for this review to spoil what lies ahead from the first three episodes - mainly because even after a third of the series has been viewed, answers aren't exactly forthcoming.

There are flashes of innovation here, from the use of the Bewitched motifs and set-ups to the Brady Bunch style third episode. But also in the last 10 minutes of the third episode, there's a whole sequence that tantalises, teases and leaves you feeling deeply unsettled by what's been watched. There's an off-kilter feeling to much of what transpires here, leaving the I Love Lucy, Bewitched and Dick Van Dyke Show set ups feeling more sinister and imbued with a sense of dread throughout.

Tone is key for WandaVision and writer Jac Schaeffer's mastered the tropes of the genre as well as the more playful edges to try and hook in a casual viewer who's not au fait with Scarlet Witch and the Vision relationship. (Though those not au fait with the Marvel world will find this an odd starting point, given the rigidity with which the show follows sitcom set-ups and screwball executions.)

And it is this relationship which becomes key to WandaVision - Bettany and Olsen inhabit the characters with ease and yet even they seem like players in their story. Certainly, there's a feeling that Maximoff is controlling things a little more than it appears given some of the tone of some of her interventions and perhaps more specifically given that Vision died in Avengers: Endgame.

That is WandaVision's strength - its experimental edge of unpredictability. 

It's dangerous to rate a show based solely on a third of its finished crop, and especially given how some comic book series don't stick the landing and especially with how heavy the intrigue is trowelled on throughout. 

But the fact Marvel's been willing to try something bolder and different hints at what viewers to the next phase may get - certainly, the journey appears to be more than worth taking, given episodes are but 30 minutes long (whether that may change, who knows) and given the elements of mystery which are teased out.

From its black and white vistas to its striking use of colour a la Pleasantville and bizarrely, Schindler's List, WandaVision looks like nothing the MCU has proffered up before and plays out in ways that you don't expect.

Given the Marvel film series became bloated with superhero spectacle and bombast in amongst it all, this remarkable change of tone is extremely welcome - and completely extraordinary for a studio that until now, hasn't seemed willing to gamble.

Whether that surreal-tinged gamble will pay off remains to be seen in the final six episodes, but WandaVision is off to a compelling and original start. Here's hoping it sticks the landing, maintaining the unsettling intimacy of a television series rather than relying on the big soulless spectacle that's depressingly become the superhero norm on the big screen.

WandaVision screener access was provided by Disney + 

Penguin Bloom: Film Review

Cast: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, A bird, Rachel House, Jacki Weaver

Director: Glendyn Ivin

There's something awfully familiar about Glendyn Ivin's film version of the book Penguin Bloom.

It's a predictable tale of triumph over adversity, and one which hits pretty much all of the expected beats as it traverses toward its endgame.

Watts plays Sam, a surf-loving waterbaby whose perfect idyll with her husband Cam (The Walking Dead's Lincoln, just about managing an Aussie accent) and three kids is rudely shattered when holidaying in Thailand. Venturing up a roof, Sam falls thanks to a rotten barrier and falls to the ground, emerging paralysed from the "bra strap" bone down.

Heading back to Australia, Sam struggles to acclimate to what has happened, and as the family adjusts around her, feelings of frustration and loss of familial place bubble up in among the expected grief and inevitable depression.

When her son Noah (a sensitive Griffin Murray-Johnston) discovers a magpie that's unable to fly after falling from a tree - spot the parallels already - he brings it home, and asks his mother to keep an eye on it.

And you can tell what's coming next.

There's nothing new in Penguin Bloom, and whilst it's told with sensitivity by its director, it borders on occasionally cute thanks to the magpie's antics and the sappy as it treads into familiar waters and beats. There's little subtlety here thanks to the symbolism, and while the fall itself is a truly shocking moment, the film barely offers any further shocks as it plays on (aside from one third act out-of-the-blue incident which surprises).

But there are moments throughout that work - the growing relationship between Sam and the magpie named Penguin are believable and tenderly choreographed. Of the rest of the family, only Lincoln and Murray-Johnston are afforded a touch more characterisation, but those are broad strokes at the best of times.

And while the cinematography and sensitive camera work don't overplay much of the film's potential to head into saccharine waters, Penguin Bloom feels like a throwback of a film in many ways, a safe and family friendly one that would easily pass a 90 minute window in the coming summer months.

You'd have to be a fool to not know how it's all going to play out, and you'd have to have a hard heart to not be moved by parts of Penguin Bloom. It never quite soars, but is the kind of film that's rarely made these days - an inoffensive parable where everyone acquits themselves reasonably and younger viewers will be left mildly inspired.

Ride Like A Girl: Neon NZ Film Review

The story of Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win Flemington in 2015, the horse race which stops Australia should on paper be a home run.

In theory, an underdog story, a tale of female empowerment and of triumph in the face of adversity, it has it all as it goes into the starting gate, promising a powerful start and an uplifting final furlong.

But what emerges from Ride Like A Girl is a story given such a light touch that very little rarely lands as it should, despite the stoic work from Palmer, the reliable gruff from Neill as the emotionally stunted father and Stevie Payne as the real-life brother, Stevie.

The trouble is that Griffiths keeps flitting from one sequence of Payne's life to another, hardly allowing anything to resonate as it should. Equally the chauvinism and sexism that was thrown Payne's way warrants only the briefest of mentions in proceedings and certainly doesn't do much to increase the drama stakes.

Where the film is more triumphant is in its execution of the horse riding sequences, capturing both the intensity and the tension of the race from within the galloping cluster. It means that in these sequences alone, there's a palpable sense of stakes and tension.

And the family story at the heart of the Payne story is the one that beats a little louder than normal - certainly Stevie Payne brings real pathos to his role, and never once does the script play to an audience's easy expectations.

Ride Like A Girl does feel, at times, like a TV movie writ large but it lacks the conviction of its desired inspirations, preferring instead to plough a conventional and extremely safe path. Ultimately, because of that decision at a script and directorial level, the film rarely raises its head from the pack and disappoints what should have been an easy win.

The Way Back:Neon NZ Film Review

In many ways, The Way Back is a film you've seen before.

One of a broken sports person and alcoholic, not searching for redemption, who's offered the chance to get back in the game and tackle their own personal demons at the time.

But The Way Back suffers from the delicious irony that its central star has battled with these very demons and has slowly fought his way back.

Affleck is Jack Cunningham, a former high school basketball star, who's asked to coach the local team - for no real reason other than they're tanking and he was their next big thing. Initially reticent, the separated Cunningham takes on the mantle and begins his journey back.

Dour and rightfully downbeat, The Way Back sees Affleck reteaming with his The Accountant director to create the sort of sports underdog film that is all too rote and all too familiar. And yet, with a relative career best from Affleck, the film's certainly got some redeeming features.

Sequences wondering if Jack will hit the booze again may ooze familiarity, but tempered with scenes where Jack goes through a 30 pack of beer in one night, with a routine of picking one out of the freezer, returning a fresh one in there ready feeling raw and tempered with the kind of veracity Hollywood rarely siphons for films about alcoholics. There's no doubt Affleck brings a lot of himself to the role, and it wouldn't work without him.

And it's in the central relationships the film rises too - a needling sister who's only doing it out of love, and a coach and head coach relationship that's tinged with respect, admiration and awareness of failing.

Certainly, in the rest of the film, there are a few narrative jumps too many.

The team gets better somehow without any real conviction why, Jack decides to coach them without any real reason why he changes his mind so suddenly - these are the beats which feel off in The Way Back, and which ground the tale of a redemptive blue collar worker with moments that see you more questioning why and lifting you out of the moment.

In the final furlong, the film lapses into lamentable melodrama, and the maudlin elements threaten to topple Affleck's good work, rather than build on it; ending on mawkishness and a message of hope may be central to The Way Back's MO, but unfortunately, it leaves this final drink of drama stinging in your throat.

Win Savage

To celebrate the release of Savage, you can win a copy thanks to Madman Home Entertainment

About Savage

Inspired by stories from New Zealand boys homes and the early history of our gangs, Savage follows Danny across 3 different ages at important junctures that push and pull him towards and away from gang life.

Each chapter of Danny’s life is a complete short story set in a defining time for NZ gangs – from the abusive state-run boy’s homes of the sixties; to the emerging urban gang scene in the seventies where disenfranchised teenagers created their own families on the streets; to the eighties when gangs became more structured, criminal, and violent.

Together the three chapters combine to create a deeper lock at a boy who grows up to become the brutal enforcer of a gang; to understand how he got there.

Savage is about Danny’s search for belonging and connection, and explores the notion of family. Danny is torn between his real family and his gang family, and must choose where he belongs.

All you have to do is email your details and the word SAVAGE!

Email now to  darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com 
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