Review #1,106: 'Sausage Party' (2016)

Sausage Party, the latest button-pusher from Seth Rogen and his usual crew, has so far grossed $135 million on a $19 million budget, receiving mainly positive reviews from critics and assisted by strong word-of-mouth thanks to a climactic scene which won't allow you to look at a hot dog in quite the same way again. Essentially a movie about anthropomorphic, sexually repressed food items who long to escape the confines of their supermarket home to reach the 'Great Beyond' - taken home by us humans - Sausage Party is a mixed bag. On one hand, it's a bold religious parable featuring some extremely creative animation, but on the other, at least comedy wise, this is on par with some of Rogen's most mediocre output.

In a supermarket named Shopwell's, the various tasty treats that line the shelves spend their days praying they will be picked and taken to the great unknown by shoppers, who they view as gods. Each morning starts with a sing-a-long, and they try to live their life by a set of rules they believe will led to them being chosen, including no sex until they're out of their packet. Hot dog Frank (Rogen) only allows himself to touch tips with the bun he's in love with, Brenda (Kristen Wiig), saving themselves for the inevitable day when they get carried off into paradise. But with the return of Honey Mustard (Danny McBride), who claims that he witnessed torture and horror at the hands of the 'gods' who devoured some of his friends, Frank sets off on a journey of discovery and awakening.

Similar in many ways to Pixar's Toy Story trilogy, Sausage Party imagines what it would be like if the food we consume to eagerly could talk to each other and wonders what they would make of us. But while Woody and co. would flop to the ground whenever a human walked in the room, the characters here exist in the 'fourth dimension', unseen by humans. This allows more freedom for directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon to deliver as many outlandish set pieces as they would like, and two scenes in particular - one inspired by Saving Private Ryan (1998) and the other featuring an Irish potato being skinned alive while his friends watch - are actually quite terrifying. The film is certainly at its best during these moments, and there are scenes of real ingenuity amongst the carnage.

The first half whizzes by and is a blast, but then the film seems to lose direction and wander aimlessly from one scene to another. It also struggles to tickle the funny bone, and relies too heavily on tired food puns, familiar shtick from the likes of James Franco, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd and Bill Hader, and outright vulgarity. Someone should point out to the writers - which include Rogen and regular collaborator Evan Goldberg - that using "fuck" every other word doesn't automatically make a film 'adult', but quickly becomes unpleasant and completely unnecessary, especially when the characters are otherwise perfectly likeable. Also, the inclusion of Douche (Nick Kroll), the cavity-cleaner who holds a grudge against Frank, serves only a distraction from the more interesting central plot.

Still, despite its many flaws and irritating tics, I very much enjoyed Sausage Party for what it is, and it's like nothing I've ever seen before. If you haven't enjoyed much of Rogen's previous output, chances are you won't love this, although there's plenty of visual splendour to savour in between the dick jokes. At its best, it offers interesting parallels to real-world issues, such as the relationship between a lavash named Kareem (David Krumholtz) and a bagel named Sammy (Edward Norton doing a pitch-perfect Woody Allen impression), and their bickering over shelf space. Of course, this is the edible version of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and while it may embrace comedic stereotyping throughout, Sausage Party never intends to offend, and instead offers a surprisingly sympathetic message about the necessity of religion. Whatever your view, the fact that we live in an age when a film like this can be greenlit and unleashed on a mainstream audience is cause for celebration.


Directed by: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon
Voices: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek, Nick Kroll, Bill Hader, James Franco
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,105: 'Platoon' (1986)

Ever since Steven Spielberg wowed the cinematic world and changed the aesthetic of the war movie forever with the exceptional opening 25 minutes of 1998's Saving Private Ryan - the film went downhill from there - audiences have come to expect the same grainy camerawork and ultra-realism of Spielberg's breathtaking vision whenever a battle is depicted. Anything else would be 'unrealistic', and many movies dated horribly almost overnight as a result. While Oliver Stone's Platoon, which was once considered difficult to watch due to its unflinching depiction of the insanity of war, may not seem quite as brutal as it used to, it possesses one thing that no war other movie can boast - the guiding hand of a veteran.

Stone did a tour in Vietnam which ended in 1968, changing the future writer/director forever. Starting out life as a screenplay focusing on a soldier's experiences both before and during the war which had Jim Morrison touted for the lead, it evolved into a movie focused solely on a young volunteer's time spent in the sweaty, eternally damp jungle. Charlie Sheen's Chris Taylor is an obvious stand-in for Stone, and he arrives fresh-faced and eager to fight for his country. By the end, he is dazed and confused, and angry at the country who would send such "bottom of the barrel" men - invisible in society - into a world of such horror and meaningless bloodshed. It's an experience that moulded Stone into the one of the most outspoken voices in cinema.

The casting of the two sergeants vying for Chris' soul is a stroke of genius. The platoon is made up of two main groups - the 'juicers', a collection of beer-swilling meat-heads seemingly intent on violence at every opportunity, and the 'heads', a more laid-back and weary bunch who are happiest when getting high and having a singalong. At the head of the juicers is Sgt. Barnes, played by Tom Berenger, an actor known for his heart-throb leading-man roles but here cast as a dead-eyed, heavily scarred brute. While Willem Dafoe, who was and still is known for his crazy-eyed villainous roles, plays the wiser, gentler leader of the heads, an all-round good guy battling his own demons. By toying with expectations, Stone adds layers to their characters, and they both received Best Actor nominations for their efforts.

Yet what makes Platoon truly stand out 30 years after its release is the way Stone manages to transport the audience to that terrible place. It's teeming with dangers at every turn, be it the ants, the snakes or the Viet Cong better equipped for the harsh surroundings, the most frightening moment is when they fall asleep. And even when they awake, there's something moving in the shadows. The film never allows you to ever be at ease, despite the fun to be had with spotting the many famous faces dotted throughout the supporting cast. There are flaws, especially with some overacting from some of the supporting cast - in particular John C. McGinley - and Chris' unnecessary, rambling narration, but the movie packs such a punch that it's easy to forget these quibbles. It's a true insight into the mind of a grunt and how combat can have a lasting, eye-opening effect on those on the ground, and undoubtedly one of the most important war pictures ever to come out of the US.


Directed by: Oliver Stone
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David, Forest Whitaker, John C. McGinley, Kevin Dillon, Francesco Quinn
Country: UK/USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,104: 'Hellraiser: Deader' (2005)

Like Hellseeker (2002) before it, Deader, the seventh entry into Clive Barker's Hellraiser franchise, takes an unrelated spec script and shoe-horns in a couple of fleeting appearances from Doug Bradley's Pinhead to try and justify its inclusion of 'Hellraiser' in the title. Say what you will about the first two sequels (I thought they were pretty bad), but they at least felt like they were set in the same universe as the wonderfully disturbing 1987 original. Returning director Rick Bota delivers yet another straight-to-video, poorly-acted stinker that looks as if it was directed by a group of goth kids making their first student film.

This time, the plot revolves around investigative reporter Amy Klein (Kari Wuhrer), a feisty and dedicated type who always goes the extra mile to get to the heart of the stories she covers. We first meet her writing a story in a dingy crack house before she is shipped off to Budapest (where production is cheap) to investigate a mysterious group named the 'Deaders'. Based on footage recorded on a VHS tape, the Deaders are led by Winter (Paul Rhys), a man with the ability to bring people back to life. Her sleuthing leads to a corpse holding the Lament Configuration, which when opened unleashes Pinhead. The Cenobite warns Amy that Winter is operating outside of his control, and that he is a descendent of the toymaker who created the puzzle box. Is it all a dream, or are there supernatural forces at work?

As to whether what you are watching is in fact a dream or not won't be a question you'll linger on for long. Like Dean Winters' character in Hellseeker, Amy ends many scenes by suddenly jerking out of a nightmare. It's a cheap, tiresome tactic which quickly removes any tension the film may have had otherwise. The idea of seeking the ultimate pleasure and, of course, the dangers that come with it, is a key theme running throughout the series, but this is all but gone in favour of a lightweight tale of an emo cult playing with resurrection. There's also a startling lack of gore. Regardless of how bad the preceding sequels are, you could always rely on a gruesome scene or two to keep you awake, so Deader's main issue is that it's a complete bore. Frighteningly, this is one of two Hellraiser films released in 2005.


Directed by: Rick Bota
Starring: Kari Wuhrer, Paul Rhys, Marc Warren, Doug Bradley
Country: USA/Romania

Rating: *

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,103: 'The Conjuring' (2013)

I doubt anyone could foresee the success of James Wan's The Conjuring, which, on the surface at least, looks no more remarkable than any of the gore-soaked horror bilge than swills into our cinemas every year. Released in the summer - a season hardly known for horror smash-hits - it proved that audience's desire to be scared lasts the whole year round, raking in the cash on the back of a moderate $20 million budget. It also managed to attract admiration from many critics, who found it both well-made and genuinely scary, harking back to an era when top directors took an interest in the genre and did wonders with it.

The film focuses on the Perron family, consisting of loving mother Carolyn (Lili Taylor), hard-working father Roger (Ron Livingston), and their five daughters, who re-locate to a dilapidated rural home in Rhode Island. While they settle quickly, it soon becomes apparent that there are other forces at work, and this supernatural presence isn't at all happy at the Perrons being in its home. Following a series of inexplicable events, Carolyn calls in paranormal investigators Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) and his clairvoyant wife Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) for help, who quickly make up their mind that this is the most pissed-off haunting they have ever witnessed.

Long before the likes of Most Haunted graced out TV screens, Ed and Lorraine Warren were the real celebrity ghost hunters, investigating almost every famous case of so-called demonic possession you can think of, from Amityville to the Enfield poltergeist. Many of their investigations took place in the 1970's, and Wan gives the film a very 70's aesthetic, complete with a calm, moving camera and slow zooms. 1979's The Amityville Horror is a definite influence, and there are certain moments which will bring the likes of Don't Look Now (1973) and The Omen (1976) to mind also. While The Conjuring doesn't bring anything new to the table for seasoned horror buffs, it's nice to be reminded of a time when frights were delivered by expert hands, and the genre was alive with innovation.

Yet while Wan's film certainly does have its moments - a camera swirl from underneath the bed to the dark corner of a bedroom is particularly memorable - it falls victim to many of the tropes that plague modern horror movies. There's the occasional reliance on a jump scare to try and keep the audience engaged, and a climax that quickly descends into CGI nonsense complete with the obligatory exorcism scene. It's rather sad, as there is a good a cast delivering strong performances and a director who certainly knows what he's doing at play here, taking the time to craft an old-fashioned spooky tale without the need for gore or sex before the ending washes away all the good work. Still, it's refreshingly old-school, which is surprising when you think that this is from the guy who kick-started the Saw franchise.


Directed by: James Wan
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Shanley Caswell, Joey King
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,102: 'Sunshine' (2007)

Danny Boyle's under-performing attempt to rekindle audience interest in the philosophical sci-fi genre so successful in the 1970s plays out very much like an object hurtling towards the Sun - thrilling, dazzling and often overwhelming at first, before quickly burning out and being swallowed up by the enormity of the themes it attempts to explore. 2007's Sunshine ponders a future in which humanity is facing extinction as the Sun powering the planet is burning itself out. A last-gasp mission sees the crew of Icarus II travel for five years through space with a bomb the size of Manhattan in the hope of reigniting the Sun's flames.

Of course, there was also an Icarus I, captained by a man named Pinbacker (Mark Strong), which disappeared seven years earlier carrying out the same mission. When a distress signal is picked up from the lost ship, the crew of Icarus II, captained by the enigmatic Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada), are faced with the dilemma of either carrying on with their mission, or answering the call and picking up a second bomb in the process, and therefore doubling their chances of saving humanity. Physicist Capa (Cillian Murphy) makes the decision to set a new course, much to the frustration of level-headed engineer Mace (Chris Evans). However, navigator Trey (Benedict Wong) forgets to realign the ship's shield as it changes course, throwing the entire mission into jeopardy.

The film captures the claustrophobia and restlessness of the cramped surroundings and characters incredibly well. The crew often feel as if they are hunched over, as if being slowly swallowed up by the deadly beast that is their destination. Even the on-board garden, a self-sustaining eco-system which supplies the ship's oxygen, tended to by botanist Corazon (Michelle Yeoh), feels oddly suffocating. Boyle's trademark eye for visuals also helps give the film a sweaty, scolding vibe. An entire room on the Icarus II seems to be dedicated solely to appreciating the Sun's sheer power, as the crew, in particular psychiatrist Searle (Cliff Curtis), sit and stair in utter awe. Sunshine begins rather slow, but Boyle takes this time to sculpt an incredible sense of atmosphere.

Boyle's desire to contemplate the larger questions is ultimately the film's downfall. In the early scenes, the mere presence of the Sun looming just behind that massive shield and the way Boyle captures it is enough to start audience's comparing the star's influence to that of God, and the crew's mission to save humanity by conquering something of such unfathomable power has enough religious connotations on its own. The climax sees the arrival of a mysterious being on the ship that may or may not be supernatural, and it just doesn't work. A lot was written at the time about the Sunshine's descent into slasher territory, and although I can applaud the attempt to muddle genres and take the story in a completely different direction, I have to agree with the criticism. Instead of inviting discussion as the credits roll, it simply left me disappointed at the squandered potential.


Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cliff Curtis, Benedict Wong, Mark Strong
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,101: 'The Hunger' (1983)

Before he was pumping out heavily stylised action films such as Top Gun (1986), True Romance (1993) and Enemy of the State (1999), the late Tony Scott cut his cinematic teeth on more thoughtful fare such as the slender Loving Memory (1971) and the melancholic The Hunger, the latter a surprisingly sad meditation on love, lust and the destructive nature of age, both mentally and physically. Essentially a vampire movie with little horror, The Hunger is Scott at his most subdued, portraying the tragic end of one long-term companionship and the beginnings of a new one.

Miriam (Catherine Deneuve) and John (David Bowie) are vampires living a life of solitude, emerging occasionally to feed and giving weekly violin lessons to a young girl named Alice (Beth Ehlers). When John wakes up one morning with signs of physical decay, he approaches Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), a gerontologist studying rapid ageing in primates in the hope of finding a way to reverse it. Sarah thinks he is a quack and leaves him in the waiting room for much longer than promised, during which John ages decades and flees as his body betrays him. Remorseful, Sarah seeks John out but instead finds Miriam, who instantly strikes up an attraction with the beautiful doctor.

Although he was criticised throughout his career for favouring style over substance with sickly action movies like Spy Game (2001) and Domino (2005), this approach works well for The Hunger. There's a distinct coldness to the aesthetic, like death is all over, and despite the film being very much a product of the 80s, it's aged remarkably well. The absorbing visuals do come at the expense of coherency however, and you are left trying to fill in most of the blanks yourself, with many things left unexplained. The lingering question of just why Miriam seems to be the only true immortal and an ending that had me scratching my head left me frustrated. But if you just go with it, The Hunger is at times moving and beautiful, refusing to give in to traditional vampire mythos in favour of telling its own unique, if flawed, tale.


Directed by: Tony Scott
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,100: 'Imperium' (2016)

With one of the most recognisable faces in the world, Daniel Radcliffe seems to be making a full-throttle effort not to go down the same road taken by many child actors, and has tried to cast as wide a net as possible when it comes to film roles. Whether it be a man sprouting horns in, erm, Horns (2013), a hunchbacked assistant in Victor Frankenstein (2015) or a farting corpse in this year's Swiss Army Man, his desire to shake shake off the ghost of Harry Potter is nothing but admirable. With Imperium, there's no extravagant make-up or gimmick to hide behind, or in fact any hair, as he convinces as a bookish FBI agent turned white supremacist infiltrator.

While it certainly doesn't match the intensity of Russell Crowe in Romper Stomper (1992). Edward Norton in American History X (1998) or Ryan Gosling in The Believer (2001) - movies all set within the same world - it is undoubtedly Radcliffe's finest performance. When we first meet his character, Nate Foster, he is bespectacled and brown-suited, taking a literal back-seat as the Bureau successfully entrap a suspected terrorist. We then see what he can offer, speaking fluently in Arabic and using his people skills to settle the suspect down enough to talk. With caesium-137 on the loose and Middle Easterners the target, Nate's boss Angela Zamparo (Toni Collette) feels the FBI have forgotten that threats also lurk from within, and turns her focus instead to a white supremacist hate group.

Many of the Imperium's best moments are the scenes between Nate and Zamparo, and Collette makes the most of what is a relatively straight-forward role. We also get an idea as to why Nate, someone who is bullied by his colleagues, is the perfect man to go undercover and try to work his way into the inner-factions of the group. He is quiet, mild-mannered and spends most of his time outside of work on his own, but he is also highly intelligent, observant and, most importantly, victimised. While the many skin-heads Nate encounters are indeed burly and terrifying, they all share a sense of misguided victimhood, channelling their frustration and hatred towards a country they feel has betrayed them. Nate may not share their views, but he can empathise on an emotional level, which makes him a perfect fit to feel somewhat at home in such surroundings.

Director Daniel Ragussis, here making his feature debut, hints at a more interesting film than he manages to deliver. It touches on the inner psyche of these hateful people, and offers some shocking facts about America's dealings with terrorism, and just how much of it has come from white people. However, Ragussis's desire to tell a neat-and-tidy story means that Imperium never rises above routine thriller territory. A few key scenes in which Nate feels the wall closing in on him are very well done, and the script-writing input of Michael German, a former FBI undercover agent turned best-selling author, adds a feel of authenticity. I would also like to highlight the terrific performances of Chris Sullivan and Tracy Letts, the latter stealing every scene he's in as radio hate preacher Dallas Wolf. Imperium is a solidly-made, well-acted film that sadly doesn't strive to be anything more than an exciting thriller.


Directed by: Daniel Ragussis
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Toni Collette, Tracy Letts, Sam Trammell, Chris Sullivan
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,099: 'The Burning' (1981)

Tony Waylam's The Burning, the first film to be produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein's Miramax Films, is but one in what seems like an endless churn of stalk-and-slash movies inspired by the low-budget success of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) and Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th (1980). It performed moderately at the box-office and was panned by the critics, and did little to disguise its desire to replicate the success of Cunningham's newly-established franchise, merely re-hashing the plot in the process. So why now, 35 years after its release, is The Burning so beloved amongst genre fans?

It's difficult to really pinpoint the reason why Waylam's film isn't as insufferable or outright boring as many others from the 'slasher' genre generally are. But for me, I found that the characters, who are little more than your usual horror archetypes, rather enjoyable to be around when they weren't busy getting carved up in the woods. The likes of Jason Alexander, Brian Backer, Fisher Stevens and Holly Hunter appear before they were famous, and are given the job of fleeing from the deformed killer stalking them - here a psychopathic victim of a prank-gone-wrong named Cropsy (Lou David). They are in the woods as part of a canoe trip arranged by Camp Blackfoot leader Todd (Brian Matthews), who is unaware that the camp-fire spook tale he frequently tells is about to become reality.

With a rather likeable bunch at its core, The Burning doesn't really drag when it isn't dishing out scenes of gore, and the performances feel naturalistic. When the gore does come, special effects maestro Tom Savini, having turned down Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), delivers some of his finest work, naturally landing the film in trouble with the censors. As one of the first films slapped with the 'video nasty' tag, it was always destined to achieve legendary status amongst fans, and the infamous scene of mass murder on a raft, which really had the right-winger media up-in-arms, is extremely well-executed. I doubt I'll ever take to the slasher genre - I find them generally dull, dated, formulaic and misogynistic - and while The Burning certainly contains those elements, it isn't difficult to see why it is still so popular with fans of the genre.


Directed by: Tony Maylam
Starring: Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua, Jason Alexander, Lou David
Country: USA/Canada

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,098: 'The Infiltrator' (2016)

Faring far better as a big-screen leading man than he did in last year's disappointing biopic Trumbo, Bryan Cranston brings a slightly grizzled decency to his role as U.S. Customs special agent Robert Mazur in Brad Furman's The Infiltrator, a by-the-numbers, if suitably engrossing, fact-based drama. Mazur decides that his final operation before retirement will be to go undercover to infiltrate the criminal organisation headed by one of the key figures in helping turn Miami into a bullet-ridden, cocaine-fuelled war-zone during the 1980s, Pablo Escobar.

Mazur is a mild-mannered, if fiercely intelligent, family man, who must transform himself into a slick money launderer that will somehow talk his way into Escobar's inner circle, befriending one of the drug baron's top lieutenants - Benjamin Bratt's Robert Alcaino - in the process. Similar to Walter White's transformation from passive high school teacher into a mass-murdering, downright evil bastard in Breaking Bad, Cranston is again required to undergo a complete character change throughout the course of the story (albeit here as an act). Yet while Walter White was given 5 years to convincingly develop his arc, Mazur's seduction by a more dangerous way of life isn't given the attention it deserves.

Cranston is still terrific however, as are the supporting cast. A slip of the tongue means that Mazur's alter-ego Bob Musella also has a fiancee, so fellow agent Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger) is called in, and the relationship between the two secret agents, both professionally and the obvious sexual chemistry between the two, is one of the more interesting aspects of the movie. Also assisting Mazur with the sting is Emir Abreu, played with wide-eyed, jacked-up intensity by John Leguizamo. Abreau is a fellow agent whose motivations may rest more with the adrenaline rush that naturally goes with living constantly on edge than a desire to see justice served, and many of Leguizamo's best scenes are in those moments when you feel everybody is about to get rumbled.

It's interesting, no-nonsense stuff, but sadly doesn't strive to be anything but that. Hints made at Mazur's inner-conflict and the finer details of the case itself are left relatively unexplored, so anyone hoping for a deeper experience than your standard genre movie will no doubt be left disappointed. The Infiltrator is instead happy to sit within the comforts of cliche, covering everything from the concerned wife at home (played by Juliet Aubrey) to the criminal who is actually quite nice deep down. But to give the film it's credit, it does the cliches very well, successfully building tension and delivering the occasional heart-in-mouth moment when called upon. Cranston has done his inevitable ascension to the A-list no harm either, and Leguizamo proves why people really need to take him seriously as an actor again.


Directed by: Brad Furman
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Diane Kruger, John Leguizamo, Benjamin Bratt, Juliet Aubrey, Amy Ryan, Joseph Gilgun, Jason Isaacs
Country: UK

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,097: 'Star Trek Beyond' (2016)

I'm not a 'Trekkie' and I doubt I ever will be. The Next Generation played regularly on television when I was young but I never took to it, as I was too busy getting lost in The X-Files. Like most people, I enjoyed roughly half of the original movie series that starred the likes of William Shatner and Patrick Stewart, but was completely won over by J.J  Abrams' reboot/remake/alternate timeline effort in 2009, and it's sequel Into Darkness in 2013. With Abrams abdicating for that other nerd-heaven franchise beginning with the word 'star', I had little interest in seeing Justin Lin's Beyond after seeing the trailer, which made the movie look like it had little to offer in the way of originality.

What eventually made me want to see were those slightly trippy, wonderfully colourful posters, which offered a dazzling throwback quality not seen in Abrams' strobe-heavy, more 'grounded' vision. After seeing the film, this retro feel is precisely what makes Beyond such an enjoyable experience. Lin of course was the man to turn the Fast and Furious franchise from cult car porn teetering dangerously close to straight-to-DVD to a multi-million dollar powerhouse capable of attracting the talents of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, and delicately handling an ever-expanding ensemble between the ludicrous set-pieces. Lin's experience with a big cast and bigger budget, combined with co-writer Simon Pegg's obvious affection for Gene Roddenberry's original series, results in a winning combination of character, heart and explosive action.

After spending three years of a five-year mission drifting in space, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) of the U.S.S. Enterprise is struggling to find meaning in his work. If there is truly infinite space left to explore, then where does it all end? Docking at Starbase Yorktown, Kirk recommends that his Vulcan friend Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), current mourning the death of his older self (in a touching moment that references the passing of Leonard Nimoy) takes over as captain upon the completion of the current mission, When the Enterprise is called into action after they receive a report of a stranded ship on a distant planet, they are ambushed by Krall (Idris Elba), a scaly being with a serious grudge against Starfleet. With their ship destroyed, Kirk, Spock, Bones (Karl Urban) et al must rely of their basic survival skills to defeat Krall and return home.

The 'Beyond' of the title seems almost ironic, or a working title somebody forgot to change. In terms of plot, this is the most unambitious entry into the Star Trek canon in memory, and certainly doesn't go beyond anything we've seen before. However, this is all perfectly fine when the chemistry between the actors is this good, with Pegg and co-writer Doug Yung clearly having fun with Spock and Bones' bickering in particular. While the likes of Zoe Saldana (as Uhura) and John Cho (as Sulu) are oddly sidelined, and Elba doesn't get anywhere near the screen-time his sheer presence deserves, there's the welcome introduction of Sofia Boutella, who appeared in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), as alien freedom fighter Jaylah.

The standout set-piece is without doubt Krall's initial attack on the Enterprise. The astonishing special effects lend an almost operatic quality to seeing an iconic piece of pop-culture crash and burn, completely tearing it to shreds in spectacular fashion. Such a bravura display of CGI trickery is then in contrast to what we see when the characters touch down to a seemingly barren planet. Often it feels like a gust of wind could cause the set to wobble, and this is no doubt a wink to the charming set design of the originals. This juxtaposition of thoroughly modern blockbuster and kitschy nostalgia works extremely well, and will no double please the hardcore fans unimpressed by Abrams efforts. While it may not boldly go where no other Star Trek movie has gone before, there is a delight to be had in simply watching these beloved characters interact. Isn't what made the original so popular in the first place?


Directed by: Justin Lin
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,096: 'The Brute Man' (1946)

Jean Yarbrough's The Brute Man. remembered as the final film to star horror icon and all-round tragic figure Rondo Hatton, has a backstory infinitely more interesting than the movie itself. With Universal Pictures adopting a new policy against releasing any more B-movies, The Brute Man was shipped off to PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation), one of the smaller production companies known as 'Poverty Row', which would release the film without any mention of Universal's involvement. Some say that Universal distanced themselves out of sheer embarrassment of their exploitation of Hatton, an actor suffering from acromegaly who died before the film was even released.

Reprising his most famous role for the third and final time (after the Sherlock Holmes story The Pearl of Death and Yarbrough's House of Horrors), Hatton's The Creeper is back on the loose in an unnamed city (probably New York), and seeking revenge on those who wronged him. Without giving too much away, the Creeper was once a handsome football star, much like Hatton himself, before an accident disfigures him, and the police are on high alert when bodies start turning up with their backs broken. In the film's attempt to inspire some sympathy for the killer, the Creeper falls in love with beautiful blind pianist Helen Paige (Jane Adams), the only person not be instantly repulsed by his appearance.

As a slice of B-movie horror, The Brute Man is forgettable and formulaic, and with a run time of less than an hour, there's a remarkable lack of depth. The performances are blank and stagy, with the exception of the sweet Adams and 'King of the B-movies' Tom Neal, the latter of whom would go on to star in film noir classic Detour (1945) and get away with murdering his wife once his acting career stalled. However, the film's biggest crime is its treatment of Hatton. He is forced to act through incredibly uncomfortable scenes such as an entire restaurant full of patrons fleeing in horror from the sight of him through a window, and play a character who is as morally disfigured as he is physically, despite those half-arsed attempts to show a gentler side. Shame on you, Universal.


Directed by: Jean Yarbrough
Starring: Rondo Hatton, Tom Neal, Jan Wiley, Jane Adams
Country: USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,095: 'Ghostbusters' (2016)

There was talk of a Dan Akroyd/Harold Ramis-scripted Ghostbusters sequel for years, with Colombia Pictures understandably keen to reignite the love showered on what is their most commercially successful franchise. While Akroyd and Ramis had an idea in mind, Bill Murray, going through a career renaissance after his lauded performance in Lost in Translation (2004) and working frequently with Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch, was not interested. Then in 2014, Ramis passed away, and all hopes of seeing the original foursome together again died with him. However, it didn't take long for Sony to announce that Paul Feig would be taking the franchise in another direction, and changing the gender of the main cast in the process.

For some, including myself, this announcement was an interesting idea. After all, Feig had handled a female comedy ensemble before with Bridemaids (2011), which was well-received by both critics and audiences, and had a muse in the form of Melissa McCarthy, who he had worked with on The Heat (2013) and Spy (2015). McCarthy and fellow Bridemaids star Kristen Wiig were cast as the leads, and would be supported by Saturday Night Live alums Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, completing the titular group of ghost trappers. Yet Feig's vision also inspired one of the ugliest online backlashes in memory, and while fan opposition can always be expected when dealing with a remake of a beloved piece of nostalgia, there was also racism and misogyny, resulting in the film's trailer being voted the most hated in YouTube's history.

Such repugnant trolling only made me want to love the film more, despite my own dislike of what I saw in the trailer and desire to see a childhood favourite well and truly left alone. After a promising and unexpectedly creepy opening, in which a tour guide is chased and attacked by a malevolent glowing goo, and an enjoyable introduction to three of the main characters, Ghostbusters 2016 fails to hit the mark on almost every level. The biggest crime is how tight a leash Feig keeps on Wiig and McCarthy, both wasted here as the 'straight' guys, forced to speak scientific gobbledegook in an attempt to explain the plot, while McKinnon and Jones get to do the goofy stuff to grating effect.

Wiig is Erin Gilbert, a professor hoping to get tenure at Colombia University who tracks down her old pal Abby Yates (McCarthy) after she finds a book they co-authored years earlier about the existence of ghosts selling on Amazon. With ghosts starting to crop up all over the city, it isn't long before Erin is down with Abby's crazy-sounding ideas and, along with the latter's unhinged engineer Jillian (McKinnon), form the Ghostbusters. They hire the handsome but completely stupid secretary Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), and are eventually joined by subway worker Patty (Jones), who offers her 'street smarts' and knowledge of the city to make up for her lack of scientific know-how. The sudden appearance of ghosts is down to the work of disgruntled mad scientist Rowan North (Neil Casey), a bellhop who plans to bring the apocalypse.

The film makes a huge effort to pay its respects to the 1984 and 1989 originals, with homages made to the likes of Marshmallow Man and Rick Moranis' character, and featuring cameos from Murray, Akroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts. Yet while such nods are normally welcome, here they do little but gloss over the absence of any real laughs and emotional connection to the characters. There's also an over-reliance of set-pieces and special effects, with a thinly-drawn antagonist with the haziest of motivations. The funniest part of the movie is Hemsworth, who really does have a talent for comedy, but even he is embarrassed later on with a silly dance scene. To the online mob who may try to say "I told you so," - Ghostbusters isn't bad because of the gender switch or its audacity in trying to reboot a classic, it's bad because it simply isn't funny.


Directed by: Paul Feig
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth
Country: USA/Australia

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,094: 'Blue Ruin' (2013)

During Blue Ruin's festival run in 2013, I recall hearing whispers of a new visionary in the vein of the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino who was unafraid to shock and rattle the audience with sudden explosions of violence combined with jet-black humour. While Jeremy Saulnier's second feature, following 2007's Murder Party, certainly has elements of the Coen's claustrophobic neo-noir work, the Tarantino comparisons are completely misjudged. Blue Ruin is very much the work of a director sculpting his own vision, and one that will keep you glued to your seat as the film twists and turns, deliberately dodging nearly every trope of the revenge drama.

While most revenge flicks begin with an act of violence that will lead its scarred protagonist on their journey of righting a wrong, Blue Ruin's initial hook is that it opens slowly and ominously, with a dirty, bearded man breaking into a home to take a bath. When the family arrive home, he flees into the neighbourhood naked, stealing clothes from a nearby washing line. Ragged and apparently half-starved, the man stumbles back to his home - a hollowed-out blue car (the 'blue ruin' of the title) in the middle of a field. This, as it turns out, is Dwight, our great hero, played with astonishing subtlety by Macon Blair, and a visit from the police quickly sets him on a vastly different path. The man responsible for something horrific in Dwight's past has been released from prison, so he heads back to his hometown seeking revenge.

The revenge is not the final goal of the film, as this is carried out early on in particularly gruesome and realistic fashion. Instead, it is the repercussions that place Dwight and his estranged family in a situation they can either flee from or face head-on. The victim of Dwight's act has his own family, only they are all gun-wielding criminals, and the lack of news coverage of the incident can only mean one thing - they have decided to take matters into their own hands. Although they are rarely seen throughout the course of the film, you get the sense that they are never far behind, forcing Dwight to seek help from and old childhood friend, ex-Army good ol' boy Ben (Devin Ratray - who I only realised after the film had finished played the bullying Buzz in Home Alone (1990)), and his arsenal of firearms.

While it may sound like the film veers off into the realms of gun fantasy, it really doesn't. The relative ease in which Dwight acquires weaponry only gives the film an underlying anti-gun message, and the scenes of bloody violence are certainly anything but pornographic. They are ugly and revolting, as are many of the film's characters, even the ones we're on the side of. Non-preachy themes aside, the main pleasures to be had with Blue Ruin are during its smaller moments. This is a film where a burst tyre or an accidentally self-inflicted knife wound to the hand don't simply provide an excuse for a set-piece, but pose serious problems for its antagonist. Despite the film moving at a slow pace for the most part, it's entirely nerve-jangling and almost scary, as it's almost impossible to guess where the movie may be heading. While I feel Saulnier's next slice of terror Green Room is a better film, this is only a sign of a director perfecting his craft.


Directed by: Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Macon Blair, Devin Ratray, Amy Hargreaves, Kevin Kolack
Country: USA/France

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,093: 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople' (2016)

Before Hunt for the Wilderpeople was even released, director Taika Waititi had been headhunted by Marvel Studios to helm what will be one of their biggest releases in 2017, Thor: Ragnarok. The talented writer, director and actor duly obliged, and will no doubt bring his unique brand of charm and laugh-out-loud humour to what has been tantalisingly described as an intergalactic road movie. His relocation to Hollywood helps bring a sense of bittersweet gravitas to Wilderpeople, almost as if he is waving goodbye to his beautiful New Zealand, smashing the opening weekend box-office in his native country in the process.

The film tells the story of Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison), an overweight orphan who dresses like the gangster rappers he frequently quotes who is placed in the care of foster parent 'Aunt' Bella (Rima Te Wiata). Bella lives in a remote cottage and welcomes the troubled child with open arms, switched on to exactly how to deal with Ricky's unique brand of rebellion. The same cannot be said for her husband Hec (Sam Neill), a grizzled frontiersman who we first meet emerging from the hills with a huge boar on his back. Hec has no time for Ricky, but when tragedy strikes, the child heads out into the wilderness to survive on his own. It doesn't take long for Hec to catch up to him, but when the huntsman is injured, the two are forced into spending a huge amount of time together, becoming wanted outlaws and local celebrities in the process.

Waititi's previous film, the cult vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, was complimented by its cast of talented comedic actors and surprisingly gory set-pieces. While Shadows was certainly a riot, it could be argued that it lacked heart. Wilderpeople certainly doesn't, and Waititi seems to have an uncanny ability to know just when to inject sentiment into a mix of memorable one-liners, bizarre supporting characters and pop culture references. A lot of this is down to the two central performances. Dennison proves to be one held of a find and the ever-reliable Neill is perfect as the grumpy foil who slowly and convincingly forms a bond with the child. Many of the laughs come from Ricky's childish naivety - when he sees the military and their sniffer dogs hunting them through the trees, he exclaims, "Ninjas! Direwolves! Child Services!"

There is also a fine performance from Rachel House as head of child services Paula, a grotesque woman who seems to have stepped out of the pages of a Roald Dahl book. Her motto is "no child left behind," but doesn't seem to grasp the meaning of the words as she takes her job far too seriously and leading the manhunt herself. While the film seems to slightly lose focus towards the Thelma and Louise-inspired climax, it never loses its heart. Adapted from Barry Crump's book Wild Pork and Watercress, Waititi's is clearly in love with the film's characters, as well as the beauty of the New Zealand wilderness. It's a near perfect combination of comedy and drama, knowing exactly the right time to switch gears. If Waititi can bring the same levels of charm and offbeat humour to his Thor movie next year, it will be one of the most intriguing movies of the year and a standout in Marvel's already-impressive track record.


Directed by: Taika Waititi
Starring: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House, Rhys Darby
Country: New Zealand

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie