Film Review: Flight (3.0/5.0)

Spin. It makes the world of entertainment go round and no more so than in film. And by its very nature, marketing spin can oversell and misrepresent. So, when it comes to this latest film from director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) starring Denzel Washington, it’s best to be selective in what you believe.

I knew very little about Flight going in – sometimes the best way to be but increasingly hard in today’s digital world – but the descriptives used in the marketing material had me intrigued. On Flight’s official site it’s described as an “action-packed, mystery thriller.”

Based on the film’s opening 30 odd minutes, that’s pretty accurate. We meet Whip Whitaker (Washington) in bed after a boozy night of passion, a lithe young woman gratuitously strolling the hotel room naked as Whip snorts some coke as a pick me up.

But Whip is a veteran commercial pilot and he’s about to face undoubtedly the most terrifying flight of his career. First, he coolly overcomes some horrifying turbulence and just as horrifyingly we witness the cocky Whip as he reassures passengers while surreptitiously mixing a screwdriver.

Then, against all odds, he manages to land the plane after a monumental mechanical failure sends it into a terrifying plummet with only six of the 102 “souls” on board perishing. The media unsurprisingly hail Whip a hero but doubts soon emerge as to his fitness to fly and his culpability in the crash. An investigation begins.

It’s around this point that the spin starts to ring false. “As more is learned, more questions than answers arise as to who or what was really at fault and what really happened on that plane,” so says the official synopsis.

After its first heart-stopping half hour, Flight is hardly “action-packed” nor is it much of a “mystery thriller”. In retrospect it’s pretty obvious “who or what was at fault” early on thanks to some blatant signposting. No, Flight is more a meditative redemption/addiction drama. And if you take it as that, it’s a strong though fairly preachy one.

The hype you can believe is that as expected, Washington is a tour de force as the spiralling substance abuser Whip. While there’s his signature stoicism and cocky charm, it’s a vanity free performance from Washington who has scored an Oscar nomination for his troubles. When he’s out of his pilot uniform he’s often dishevelled and lets it all hang out; he reportedly gained around ten kilograms for the role, quit drinking for the shoot (ironically) and looked to YouTube to gain an accurate take on drunken behaviour.

But Washington leaves room for other cast members to shine including Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes) as a recovering drug addict and Whip’s love interest, Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) as his wily attorney, an almost unregnisable Melissa Leo (The Fighter) as his efficacious chief inquisitor and John Goodman (The Big Lebowski) who brings some welcome comic relief as his irreverent hippy pal and drug dealer.

The flight sequences are harrowing, stomach-churning and technically brilliant. You can’t tell that this is a low budget film (sub $US30 million) in Hollywood terms at least. And it’s nice to see Zemeckis doing live action again – his last live action film was Castaway with Tom Hanks in 2000 before he embarked on a series of motion capture films.

It’s just a shame that the screenplay by John Gatins (Coach Carter) relies too heavily on some incredulous coincidences, all too obvious religious references and most strikingly, the dangling carrot of some greater mystery, some spine-tingling thriller that (apart from the first act) never really materialises.

Like the promise of a First Class flight only to be downgraded to Business, Flight left me feeling partially satisfied but also cheated.

Film: 3.0/5.0 stars

Starring: Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood.

Director: Robert Zemeckis.

Written By: John Gatins.

Rated: MA 15+

Genre: Drama

Year: 2012

Run Time: 139 minutes.

Out: Now.

Celebs Get Their Freak On

Now for something a little different. And freaky.

Recent research suggests that we can be attracted to people who look like us. (There’s even a dating website that uses facial recognition software to face-ilitate - geddit?!! - the so called perfect facial match for the so called perfect union.)

As if to prove the point and the fact they may well have too much time on their hands (brazen hypocrisy intended) those crazy kids at the UK’s Daily Mail have been busy working their photoshoppy wizardry splicing together some of the world’s most famous celeb couples.

And as you can see, the results are freakin’ scary. 

I can think of a few movie titles for this experiment; Superstar Cyborg anyone? Or The Island of Madame Tussauds? 

Film Review: This Is 40 (3.5/5.0)

Barely has this latest film from enfant terrible Judd Apatow begun and his real-life wife Leslie Mann is telling ‘the big 4-0’ exactly where to go; it can suck an appendage she doesn’t have. You get the drift. We are in Apatow-land where a point is often conveyed with a crude slap in the face and where nothing is sacred.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

And so we revisit Debbie (Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd) some five years after we first met them as the sister and brother-in-law of Katherine Heigl’s reluctant mum-to-be in Apatow’s Knocked Up.

In this ‘sort of’ sequel – there’s no mention of Heigl or Seth Rogen’s charcters from the original – Debbie and Pete both happen to be turning 40 in the same week. Debbie is in denial, insisting she’s actually turning 38 while Pete seems resigned to impending middle age, for now.

Much like many parents, they’re finding raising their children somewhat of a combat zone - Sadie (Maude Apatow) is now a raging teen, youngest Charlotte (Iris Apatow) is full of cheek – and the generational gap only illuminates their lack of hipness. Meanwhile both Debbie and Pete’s respective businesses are struggling, they’re living beyond their means and their fathers' (Albert Brooks and John Lithgow adding some veteran comic flair) are each a source of tension.

So the stage is set for what is a very humorous look at what it means to arrive at middle age. And nothing’s off limits; from Viagra to turn-your-head-and-cough physicals, mammograms, anal abnormalities, the perky breasts of youth and the elastic effect of childbirth.

No, This Is 40 is not a subtle film but it does wring many laugh-out-loud moments out of its protagonists’ coming to terms with aging and some blackly comic observations about parenthood (loving and hating your kids all at once) and marriage (Pete and Debbie divulge graphically how they'd like to kill each other). There’s some great, very knowing dialogue with Apatow seemingly funneling his own insight of family life straight from the source, all with his trademark cutting sense of humour.

Mann has said she and Apatow wanted to represent a relationship as it truly is, unfurnished with Hollywood clichés. They almost succeed. This Is 40 with its dual mid life crisis writ large is undoubtedly honest - blisteringly so - but it can’t escape it’s Hollywood roots with sentimentality creeping through, another Apatowian trait.

And This Is 40 isn’t exactly “everyone’s story” as it purports to be in the film’s trailer. After all, Mann and Rudd are two mighty good looking specimens who look as if they should have nothing to complain about, at least not physically. But that’s also part of the gag perhaps. As Bridesmaid’s Melissa McCarthy, playing a rabid parent in a school spat with Debbie and Pete points out “They look like they’re in a bank commercial”.

We’re soon reminded they’re not perfect, far from it. But it is nice to be reunited with these characters again - as obscene and unlikeable as they can be - because they’re played so well by Mann and Rudd, two great complimentary comedic foils with their chemistry still strong.

They’re well bolstered by supporting players including Bridesmaid’s Chris O’Dowd and McCarthy, Megan Fox (Friends With Kids) and Jason Segel who returns as Jason, a stoner in Knocked Up now transformed as a perky personal trainer.

'This Is 40' doesn’t really break any new ground but in its exploration of aging, relationships and parenthood, it makes for a knowing, naughty and side-splitting interlude.

Film: 3.5/5.0 stars

Starring: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Chris O’Dowd. 

Director: Judd Apatow.

Written By: Judd Apatow.

Rated: MA 15+

Genre: Comedy

Year: 2012

Run Time: 134 minutes.

Out: Now.

Oscar Noms: Weaver drops the F Bomb, McFarlane drops H Bomb

The charmingly ever frank Aussie actress Jacki Weaver has revealed she dropped the F Bomb when she heard she’d scored a second Oscar nomination after her first for Animal Kingdom in 2011, this time for her performance as Bradley Cooper’s ‘Mom’ and Robert De Niro's wife in Silver Linings Playbook. (scroll down for the trailer)

And all while rugged up in Qantas pyjamas. Weaver was flying to Texas to shoot Parkland in which she’ll play mother to Lee Harvey Oswald when she heard the news.

"I wasn't sleeping well so I turned on the TV. I honestly wasn't expecting it, and it did take me quite by surprise,” she told Movieline. “I yelled out a rude word. That word began with f as in Freddie. And it sounded like the way Australians say 'park'."

Meanwhile, Family Guy and Ted creator Seth McFarlane who’ll host the Oscars next month, caused a storm of controversy when he announced Michael Haneke’s Amour in the Best Foreign Language category at Thursday’s nominations ceremony;

"I read Amour was co-produced by Austria and Germany," he said to co-presenter, actress Emma Stone. "The last time Austria and Germany co-produced something it was Hitler but this was much better."

McFarlane certainly seemed unrepentant when he responded to critics on his Twitter feed.

“Lotta flap over that Adolf joke. Look, Amour was a great film, so how about this: Austria, we'll give you the Oscar if you take back Arnold.”

If this is the sort of schtick McFarlane is capable of even before the big night, it should make for an interesting show come February 24.

Hitchcock warns of movie mobile menace from the grave

Ok, so that's a blatant lie, though you wouldn’t be blamed for confusing Sir Anthony Hopkins who plays The Master of Suspense in the just released Hitchcock with the real deal.

In this creepy, clever promo masquerading as a public service announcement Hopkins as Hitchcock warns of the dire consequences of using mobile phones during a movie echoing many a cinema lover’s sentiment;

“Nothing is more horrifying than talking or texting in the middle of a movie. Please do not text during the movie because it makes everyone psycho.”

Reviews for Hitchcock, a look behind the scenes of the making of Psycho and Hitchcock’s marriage to Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) and her influence on his work have been very mixed. While no one seems to deny the powerful performances of Hopkins and Mirren, the consensus of detractors is that the film doesn’t offer nearly enough insight into Hitchcock himself, that the tone is uneven and the truth very pliable;

“Hitchcock offers almost zero insight into the peculiar workings of creative genius, or into the rich, taboo-shattering legacy of the film whose making it documents,” wrote Justin Chang of Variety.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy was more generous;

“Hitchcock might be a work of fantasy and speculation as much as it is history and biography, but as an interpretation of a major talent's inner life and imagination, it's undeniably lively and provocative.”

And speaking of fantasy, well fantasy shattered that is, check out Hopkins having some fun with his prosthetic face on set below (fast forward to 2mins 10secs) .

Best Films of 2012: Part 5



It was a good year for quality films from art house darlings (Paul Thomas Anderson’s Scientology-tinged The Master, the mystical Beasts of the Southern Wild and Sean Penn’s quaint turn in This Must Be the Place), foreign films (Iran’s A Separation, Turkey’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) science fiction (Joseph Gordon-Levitt channeling Bruce Willis in the slick and intelligent Looper), rom-coms (The Five Year Engagement, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, the under-rated Friends with Kids), big budget popcorn flicks (The Avengers), bio-pics (My Week With Marilyn) indie’s (Take This Waltz, Your Sister’s Sister, The Sessions), adaptations (Hugo, The Rum Diary, Carnage, Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy) and local fare (Wish You Were Here, The Sapphires, Lore).

But one film stood out for me, for the sheer rush of endorphins it gave me as I left the cinema and ever since.

My best film for 2012 was the quaintly named French hit The Intouchables, the genuinely touching true story of the relationship between a disabled aristocrat (François Cluzet, Tell No One) and the drifter (Omar Sy, Micmacs) who became his carer. 

Some called it populist and low brow but I found it joyous, frank, poignant, endearing and very funny. It was a true feel-good – nay, feel-great – movie with a whole lot of heart and left me feeling elated long after I left the cinema.

And after all, isn’t that one of cinema’s best, most enduring powers?



Best Films of 2012: Part 4

In 2012, there were movie revelations we might have expected and those we really didn’t.

A frontrunner for the latter was Matthew McConaughey, often more famous for showing off his washboard stomach and perfect pecs than his acting ability. But then he astounded with a thesp-triple-play showing off his versatility as a wily district attorney on the trail of Jack Black’s unlikely killer in the comedic mock-doc Bernie then made a chilling turn as a cop who moonlights as a hitman in Killer Joe and all this after donning the leather chaps as the leader of (ironically) an all male stripper troupe in Magic Mike. Phew! No wonder Oscar talk has been brewing ever since.

Much to be expected, though no sure thing, was Michelle Williams who seemed to effortlessly embody the bombshell that was Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, an uncanny performance that neatly balanced the sexy star and the vulnerable little girl within. And her co-star Eddie Redmayne proved more than a single threat, revealing an impressive vocal talent in Les Misérables , one of the best of a cast with a mixed vocal range.

In 2012, actors better known for their lighter sides showed their more serious ones and vice versa. Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) and comic Sarah Silverman (School of Rock) were both funny and pathos-fuelled in the dramedy Take This Waltz and Keira Knightley proved that she can be funny – very, even - if given the right material in the under rated rom-com Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

Aussie comic Rebel Wilson’s stocks in Hollywood rose dramatically thanks to prime, scene stealing performances in The Bachelorette and Pitch Perfect off the back of her breakthrough in 2011’s Bridesmaids.

Her countryman Barry Humphries was also revelatory but for entirely different reasons. Humphries, after popping up as alter ego Dame Edna Everage in Kath & Kimderella was actually in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit too though you wouldn’t have known it. He played The Goblin King, a kind of atomic toad meets Jabba The Hut but it was all done in motion capture (like Gollum) so he was unrecognizable. What distracted either way was the character’s quaint elongated chin. It had a mind of its own, resembling a jiggling scrotum. Some may say fitting for the man who played cultural attaché Sir Les Patterson.

But back to the most revelatory and to Bernie. My revelatory pick for 2012 is Jack Black’s absorbing performance as Bernie Tiede, a mild-mannered, civic minded funeral director who, pushed beyond even his enduring patience, murdered wealthy widow and town battleaxe Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine) in cold blood in 1997 in Carthage, Texas. The thing was, Bernie was so nice that none of the townsfolk believed he could have done such a thing.

Under the direction of Richard Linklater who worked with Black on School of Rock, Black showed his mettle as an actor blending understated humour with genuine pathos and made this killer surprisingly multi-layered. I’d never been a fan of the deranged-eyed performances of Black - often as some version of a man-child - but Bernie made me see him in a whole new, very flattering light. It’s one of the standout performances of 2012 and a true revelation.

In the gripping finale, find out which film is my best of 2012!



Best Films of 2012: Part 3

2012 was a bumper year for films based on true stories. Sure, many may have played fast and loose with the truth to varying degrees but the standouts made for nonetheless gripping and involving viewing.

The science of psychology and sexuality were laid bare in A Dangerous Method and Hysteria, we peeked in on a famous blonde bombshell’s time in Britain in the charming My Week with Marilyn and behind the curtains of the life of J.Edgar Hoover.

We were entertained by the amazing experiences of the Australian Indigenous girl-group The Sapphires during the Vietnam War and touched by the relationship between a disabled aristocrat and the drifter who became his carer in the French hit The Intouchables.

But for their sheer audacity – both in the amazing truth of the stories they’re based on and their execution - it’s a tie between Argo and The Sessions.

The former was a grippingly edge-of-your-seat rendition of the astounding mission carried out by the CIA in 1979 to pluck out six Americans trapped in the Iranian revolution. The ingenious, highly unlikely rescue plan? The six would pose as a film crew for what was essentially a fake, Hollywood production. The film-about-a-fake-film was stunning and proved again what a talent Ben Affleck is behind the camera.

The latter was a deeply touching (pardon the pun) and amusing account of a profoundly disabled man’s quest to lose his virginity based on an essay by poet, journalist and polio sufferer Mark O’Brien. John Hawkes (Winter's Bone,Deadwood) was hugely affecting as O’Brien as was Helen Hunt as his sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen Greene and Australian writer/director Ben Lewin (who also has polio) proved you can indeed make an accessible film about a still taboo topic.

Next up, Part 4: the Most Revelatory of 2012.



Best Films of 2012: Part 2

2012 was the year that senior-centric films truly threw down the gauntlet to the youth obsessed product of mainstream Hollywood. Films featuring over 60’s actors playing characters facing aging in a plethora of ways positively teemed and thrived – Judy Dench in Skyfall, Maggie Smith and Billy Connolly in Quartet, Frank Langella in Robot and Frank, Martin Sheen in The Way, Clint Eastwood in Trouble with the Curve and Jane Fonda in And If We All Lived Together among them.

My favourite though was the sleeper hit The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel from director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love). Some may have found elements of it mawkish or contrived but I found the story of a gaggle of seniors (again featuring those go-to Dames Dench and Smith) choosing to live out their winter years in a ramshackle hotel in the exotic city of Jaipur was filled with vibrancy, humour and a joie de vivre that proved that age does not necessarily weary.

Now to the youf films. There’s never a shortage of these year on year. In 2012 The Twilight Saga was sucked dry, The Hunger Games offered a surprisingly violent, sophisticated and anti-altruistic premise and the sci fi anti-superhero cautionary tale Chronicle also proved impressively chilling.

Miley Cyrus teamed up with Demi Moore for the social media laden story of teen love in LOL, Paranormal Activity 4 continued to frighten pants off and teen party hijinks drew audiences in to Project X. Dance films continued to proliferate with Step Up 4: Miami Heat and Streetdance 2 while Pitch Perfect proved popular as a kind of edgier Glee alternative.  

But my winning teen film was 1980’s set The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Stephen Chbosky directed his adaptation of his novel of the same name, the story of an utter high school outsider (Logan Lerman, Percy Jackson)  taken into the fold of a bunch of self-confessed, though edgily cool misfits played by Harry Potter’s Emma Watson and Ezra Miller (City Island).

The totally unconditional inclusiveness these characters employ was heartwarming without being cheesy, and was totally exemplary. Education departments everywhere would do well to put the film and novel on the curriculum as an antidote to bullying.

Next up in Part 3 of The Best Films of 2012, the best films based on true stories.

Best Films of 2012: Part 1

In 2012 blockbusters ruled the box office and flopped spectacularly and youth orientated films dominated. What’s new I hear you say? This year other genres also flourished; films featuring the over 60’s, feel good films and amazing true stories. And like most years there were some revelatory performances. Here are my picks of the best of what 2012 had to offer starting with the big guns.

It was another big year for this category with no end of contenders with money spinning franchises ending (Twilight, Batman), beginning (The Hunger Games, The Avengers) returning (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Bourne Legacy, Skyfall, Prometheus) and rebooting (The Amazing Spiderman).

Twilight seemed to have outstayed its welcome as had Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy with the final chapter The Dark Knight Rises a bloated, overly earnest and all too melancholic end.

The Hunger Games was impressive with challenging themes for a teen film and The Avengers proved a cracking superhero mash-up and a global box office behemoth, instantly guaranteeing a sequel.

The Bourne Legacy and Prometheus ended up more as side-quels than a Bourne sequel and Alien prequel and while they both adroitly expanded their respective universe they didn’t completely satisfy.

And the reboot they said was way too premature turned out to be a welcome, fresh take in The Amazing Spiderman.

Most recently, event movies The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Les Miserables were two of the healthiest contenders in this category. Both were impressively spectacular, sweeping and sumptuous but were also let down by some distracting elements in execution.

Peter Jackson’s return to middle earth in his The Lord of the Rings prequel was also flabby (this is the first in a trilogy based on only one book) and his pioneering use of high frame rate technology to produce a more realistic, clear image proved divisive, frustrating and awe-inspiring all at once. Action scenes were jerky, jagged and dizzying while more static sequences - especially those featuring the welcome return of Andy Serkis as Gollum and majestic giant eagles soaring through the sky with key characters clasped in their talons - enthralled.

Rather than faltering under the weight of the towering barricade of expectation that awaited him in bringing the musical titan Les Miserables to the big screen, Tom Hooper, who directed the crowd pleasing The King’s Speech tried to impress relying too heavily on look-at-me camera angles and flourishes to constantly remind us that we’re watching a film adaption of a musical.

The final product was also hindered by some uneven singing efforts from cast members Russell Crowe as Javert and Sacha Baron Cohen as Thénardier. It highlighted the challenges of singing the vocals live over pre-recording and casting musicals with big names - what you gain in star wattage you can end up sacrificing in vocal dexterity. (Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia anyone?). Highlighting the point, beautiful performances from lesser and least known performers like Eddie Redmayne (My Week with Marilyn) as Marius and Samantha Barks as Éponine threatened to steal the spotlight. That said Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean and Anne Hathaway as Fantine didn’t disappoint.

So, finally to this year’s winner. For me, the only blockbuster/event movie that truly lived up to its promise was 007’s 23rd outing in Skyfall. At the risk of invoking heresy in the Bond-osphere it’s the best Bond yet and the film that Casino Royale, Daniel Craig’s first tilt as the suave British spy should have been.

Skyfall had everything you could want in a Bond film (except for a dearth of gadgets) - a cracking opening sequence, a classy theme song by Adele, stunning action and locales, a cracking pace, lush visuals, lush Bond girls who also had brains, the return of the Aston Martin, a brilliant villain in Javier Bardem’s Silva, a brilliant M in Judy Dench who was finally at center stage and a 007 that was brooding but also finally able to see the lighter side to his life of espionage.

Skyfall also survived MGM’s near demise to go on to rake in over $US 1 billion worldwide, the most successful Bond film to date. It’s also one of the most, if not the most, universally well received Bond film critically. American Beauty director Sam Mendes handled it all with panache notching up several nods to Bonds past in what was the 50^th Anniversary year of
the Bond films. The revenge-by-terrorism plot added some much needed realism to a franchise that too often dwells in the ridiculous. But, let’s be honest - there’s always room for the ridiculous in a Bond movie as 007 demonstrated in Skyfall’s opening moments mangling a train carriage with a bulldozer! All in all, a spine tingling Bond outing that left you wanting more. Craig will be back for at least two more outings.

Stay tuned for Part 2, a look at the best Youth and Senior centric films of 2012.