Review #1,458: 'Aquaman' (2018)

After a cameo in Zack Snyder's 2016 car crash Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and a team-up appearance in 2017's equally disastrous Justice League, the time feels right for one of comic-book lore's goofiest superheroes, Aquaman, to receive his own standalone origin story. After all, Jason Momoa's hulking, tattooed fish-whisperer was one of the surprising standouts of DC's flop team-up event, and with the campy orange-and-green costume replaced by a long-hared and shirtless Kiwi Adonis, the character can now be played straight-faced. Wonder Woman proved that DC could produce quality with the right director pulling the strings, and they pulled off a coup with James Wan, a filmmaker whose talents I have long admired despite many of his films missing the mark for me. So it pains me to say that Aquaman is yet another tonally uneven and bloated effort from Warner Bros. that never quite knows if it wants to make you laugh or feel, with a marathon running time which, by the time is gets round to its umpteenth climax, is about as welcome as a fart in a wetsuit.

In 1985, lighthouse keeper Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison) comes across a beautiful woman washed up on the shores of Maine. The woman is Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), a princess from the underwater nation of Atlantis who has escaped an arranged marriage and a gang of Atalantian stormtroopers. Tom takes her in and the two naturally fall in love, resulting in the birth of the half-Atlantian, half-human Arthur. When her enemies come calling, Atlanna must return to the ocean, leaving Tom to bring up young Arthur on his own. The baby grows up to be the beer-swilling gym-devotee we saw in Justice League, but there is trouble a-brewin' down in the depths. Arthur's half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) wants to unite the kingdoms of Atlantis and wage war on the surface, who have been polluting their home for decades. But Orm knows that he will never be accepted as the true leader while Arthur, who has no desire to take the throne, is still alive. Mera (Amber Heard), the daughter of King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren), comes to warn Arthur, but they don't stand a chance against the might of Atlantis without the Trident of Atlan, a magical weapon buried somewhere in the Sahara desert.

Aquaman certainly isn't short of ideas; the problem is that Wan doesn't quite know how to cram them all in. We are taken across continents on land and to multiple kingdoms under the water. With a desire to capture the adventurous magic of Romancing the Stone and Indiana Jones, the film actually trips over its own ambition, squeezing in side characters such as Atlantean Mr. Miyagi Vulko (Willem Dafoe) and the fearsome pirate Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), as well as a variety of underwater races we are expected to remember and littering the story with clunky CGI smackdowns. Wan crafts a colourful, vivid world, full of giant sea-horses and advanced technology, but it shares more in common with the weightless. computer-generated locations of The Phantom Menace than the tangible flamboyance of Black Panther's Wakanda. Yet all of this could be considered a mere niggle had the leads been up to the task, but Momoa and Heard have all the chemistry of two strangers making awkward small-talk in a lift. Momoa is an impressive specimen and possesses the charisma to bring this character to life (see Justice League), but here he is denied a moment to have that quiet moment of reflection or to reveal the flaws to his character that would help make him interesting. A wheezing, confused and sickly bore.


Directed by: James Wan
Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison
Country: Australia/USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,296: 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' (2017)

The films of Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos are polarising to say the least, deliberately tailored to the art-house crowd seeking something new and potentially shocking, but rarely sitting well with general audiences. Both Dogtooth and The Lobster were difficult movies to watch for many different reasons, yet what makes Lanthimos so interesting is the skill in which he makes an audience feel uneasy. His latest, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, is his most troubling picture yet, and I mean that in a good way. For the first hour of the film Lanthimos allows us to gaze through the windows of a seemingly happy middle-class family, before peeling back the layers to reveal the dysfunction beneath. Think a touch of Cronenberg, a hint of Bunuel, and a large dollop of Haneke, and your somewhere in the right area.

Highly-skilled surgeon Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) has battled through alcoholism to maintain a position of respect and authority at the hospital he works. He is happily married to Anna (Nicole Kidman), and enjoys spending time with children Bob (Sunny Suljic) and his teenage daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy). The impressively-bearded Steven also maintains a relationship with a confident young man named Martin (Barry Keoghan), walking and talking by the lake, and meeting in a diner to eat together. If it was anyone other than the subtly unnerving Martin, it would be easy to interpret their first scene together as some kind of strange first date, but it's clear they share some history together. Out of nowhere, Bob suddenly loses feeling in his legs, leaving both his father and specialists baffled at the mysterious condition. As Bob declines in health, Martin grows in confidence, dating Kim in secret and turning up unannounced at the hospital to see Steven on a daily basis.

To say any more would spoil the 'joy' to be had with The Killing of a Sacred Deer, as you spend the first half of the film out of the loop and likely expecting Steven and Martin's relationship to be revealed as sexual. Lanthimos takes his time to provide answers, carefully guiding you into the blood-drained Murphy household and taking you on long walks via Steadicam down endless, cold-white hospital corridors, before unleashing a revelation that will take Steven to the brink. Not all the big questions are answered however, and Lanthimos makes sure they don't need to be. As the mystery illness worsens and others start to show similar symptoms, the film keeps the focus on the central conflict between the handsome, successful doctor and the quietly menacing teen. Farrell continues to impress as he moves away from the pretty-boy roles that dogged his early career, but Keoghan, last seen in Dunkirk earlier this year, steals the film as the delicately threatening Martin. He's rarely anything less than pleasant, but there's just something not quite right, and Keoghan underplays the role to perfection. It's a touch overlong, and a sexual encounter in a car feels unnecessary, but Lanthimos is only fine-tuning his craft, and it feels like his masterpiece is only around the corner.


Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Colin Farrell, Barry Keoghan, Nicole Kidman, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Bill Camp, Alicia Silverstone
Country: UK/Ireland/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #852: 'Paddington' (2014)

When the announcement was made of a feature-length adaptation of Michael Bond's beloved Paddington bear - the polite, marmalade-loving, bespectacled bear from deepest, darkest Peru - I'm sure the common assumption was that disaster was afoot. How do you take a character so steeped in nostalgia, some distinctively old-fashioned, and so quintessentially British, and translate it for a modern audience of children raised on multi-film franchises, CGI and fat suits? Based on the strength of the film's finished product, you employ a young, ambitious director with a real talent for visual flair.

His name is Paul King, and his only previous film, Bunny and the Bull (2009), was a funny, sweet odyssey into the weird, similar in many ways to his most popular TV work, The Mighty Boosh. Paddington is an enormous step up into the mainstream, and could have easily been yet another cheap and formulaic Brit-com; films that are churned out quicker and lazier than they are placed in Asda's bargain bin. Yet despite it's thread-bare plot and familiar genre tropes, Paddington not only offers excitement in some slapstick set-pieces that will surely please the kids, but King makes the film an interesting analogy of immigration, a hot topic in modern society.

When Paddington (voiced with adorable naivety by Ben Whishaw) arrives at Paddington station, leaving his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) and Uncle Pastuzo (Michael Gambon) after an earthquake destroys his home, the image of the tiny bear, adorned with a sign around his neck asking any friendly Londoners to "please look after this bear, thank you", brings to mind the images of poverty-stricken immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in the 1900's as much as it does the child evacuees during World War II, Bond's original inspiration. He is taken in by inner city statistical analyst Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville) and his wife, artist Mary (Sally Hawkins), and is soon causing chaos in their home.

Evil taxidermist Millicent (Nicole Kidman) shows up about a third of the way in, intent on capturing and stuffing the rare talking bear, teaming up with grumpy (and randy) next-door neighbour Mr. Curry (Peter Capaldi) in what is the only contrived plot-thread of the movie. Her purpose is to be Paddington's antagonist, and it's during these scenes that the film stutters. When the focus is on the curious bear's adventures and pratfalls, and his relationship with the Brown family, this is an incredibly warm, visually engaging experience. It's peppered with wonderful moments, such as Paddington's scribbled addresses appearing out of the London skyline and the ever-changing wallpaper, which blossoms and fades to fit in with the film's various moods. This is a delightful surprise, and I'm eager to see where King will go from here.


Directed by: Paul King
Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Ben Whishaw, Nicole Kidman, Peter Capaldi, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Michael Gambon
Country: UK/France

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #431: 'BMX Bandits' (1983)

No childhood is complete without a fantastically expensive and frivolous fad, and the BMX bike was one such item - and one which I could even take part in (skateboarding was definitely not for me, as I was incapable of standing on one). Who would have thought that Australia, and the king of ozploitation cinema Brian Trenchard-Smith, would produce the movie to capture the zeitgeist of the colourful bicycles. I first saw this film in 1984 at a film club (basically a small room with a projector and screen, filled with us poor kids, whose parents wanted us out of the house).

Three kids, Goose (James Lugton), P.J. (Angelo D'Angelo), and Judy (Nicole Kidman), spend their summer holidays riding around on their bikes, attempting to get into mischief. They stumble across a box containing walkie-talkies (that's massive pre-mobile phone, communication boxes), that belong to a gang of bank robbers. Once the criminals (crims to use the colloquial term) discover that these pesky kids have "stolen" the items, a hapless pair (Whitey (David Argue) and Moustache (John Ley)), chase the trio around the seaside town, with comic effect.

Of course this is a silly film, it is completely unadulterated fun, and doesn't have the ubiquitous saccharine kids of an American "kids" film, and do not fall prey to the kind of posh-kids found in Enid Blyton's Famous Five stories. The young cast never become annoying, and hold the film together throughout. This is how us kids spent our summer holidays back in the day. Nowadays, children miss out on this sense of freedom, and completely lose out on creating mischief, as parents fear "stranger danger" which has been perpetuated by our "objective" media (thanks for that!). I'm going to end on an appeal: Parents out there, let your kids run free, let them get into trouble whilst cycling with friends in a summer sense of autonomy - if you don't believe me when I state that this will enrich your children, then watch this film and see what happens.


Directed by: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Starring: David Argue, John Ley, Nicole Kidman, Angelo D'Angelo, James Lugton
Country: Australia

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy

Review #97: 'Margot at the Wedding' (2007)

Margot (Nicole Kidman) is a neurotic and mentally unstable writer, who with her son Claude (Zane Pais) head out to the country to visit her free-spirited sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is soon to be married. It is shocking to Margot that her attractive and intelligent sister would be marrying someone like Malcolm (Jack Black), an overweight failed musician whose past is soon to catch up with him. The two sisters have apparently put their troubled pasts behind them and seem to be getting on well, but Margot's penchant for spreading secrets and generally strange and aggressive behaviour threatens to place the sisters at loggerheads once again, and jeopardise the whole wedding.

Director Noah Baumbach's work seems to autobiographical, giving his films an independent insight into relationships and family. His 2005 film The Squid And The Whale explored divorce through the eyes of two young brothers, and was uncomfortable and real in a way that can only be known through experience. Margot At The Wedding explores sibling rivalry, and issues of selfishness, frustration and jealousy and is executed with the same amount of intelligence as his previous effort, but does not hit the same heights. This is mainly because the characters are just repellent and unsympathetic that I wondered why I should watch a film revolving around them. However, the film remains interesting and is sporadically funny, and is well performed by an ensemble, namely by Kidman.

Directed by: Noah Baumbach

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, Zane Pais, Ciarán Hinds, John Turturro

Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie