Tag: Martin Freeman

Review: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

The sequel to Black Panther certainly had some odds stacked against it. As the final theatrical film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is ostensibly a conclusion, or at least coda, to the disparate threads of the last two years. It was also faced with acknowledging the tragic death of its star Chadwick Boseman at the end of 2020.

Which is where BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER begins, as T’Challa’s genius sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) valiantly struggles to save the Black Panther from a mystery illness. Unable to rescue him, Wakanda enters a period of national mourning, brilliantly realised by returning director Ryan Coogler in a Wakandan dance ceremony that sets the tone for the film.

As the world learns of T’Challa’s passing, stoic queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) stops at nothing to defend the nation from foreigners seeking to challenge Wakanda. A US task force, using the technology of young college prodigy Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), finds an underwater source of the rare vibranium metal — but with unexpected consequences.

The surface world earns the ire of the hitherto unseen Talokan people, an underwater civilisation led by the mighty Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía). When Talokans kidnap Riri and attack Wakanda, the two nations are on the brink of war. Shuri must decide to embrace her brother’s legacy or allow herself to be consumed by vengeance.

In WAKANDA FOREVER, the cast is king. In the void left by Boseman, the rest of the characters step up to highlight the world of Wakanda. Bassett is unquestionably the MVP, finding a balance between mourning and fiercely ruling. Winston Duke has a larger role to the delight of everyone, and it’s great to see the return of Lupita Nyong’o. As the anti-hero, Tenoch Huerta Mejía is the find of the century, stepping effortlessly into a new take on one of Marvel’s earliest characters. Only Wright seems a little unsure of the direction for her character, although having the mantle suddenly thrust upon her seems appropriate.

Indeed, there’s a lot going on for our heroes — and some of it gets lost in the mix. The expanded look at Wakanda is wonderful, with Coogler finding a good combination of African-inspired motifs, Afro-Futurist technology, and everyday life. Twinned with the Mayan influence and Yucatec Maya languages of the submariner’s Talokan, there’s a firm sense of place when the story sticks to this simple dichotomy.

Yet the film loses focus the second it steps away from these worlds. As CIA Agent Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman) desperately tries to misdirect US authorities in order to aid the Wakandans, director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has her own agenda for control. The inevitability of Riri building her own suit is telegraphed from the start, and frankly cool to see on-screen, but one wonders if it adds anything to this story. There’s so much going on, it may have worked better as a series.

Of course, these are the set-ups for the Disney+ series and other films. After all, the seeds are planted here for the Ironheart and as-yet-untitled Wakanda series, along with the theatrical releases of Armor Wars and Thunderbolts. Indeed, this has been par for the course with Phase Four releases, many of which have focused on next steps rather than the task at hand. Thankfully, Coogler’s character-based drama is a little more grounded than this.

Which is probably why Marvel chose to not end WAKANDA FOREVER with a glimpse of the future, as they’d already given us plenty of hints of what was coming. There’s a mid-credits coda that’s largely been seen as a tribute to Boseman, but it’s also one that allows some space for the emotion of the moment. It allows the cast and audience to come full circle on the mourning period for both the actor and the character.

On a technical level, WAKANDA FOREVER is a mixed bag. Ludwig Göransson’s stirring score is mixed with a banging soundtrack that mixes the likes of Rihanna with terrific tunes from South Africa, Mexico and Nigeria. As one would expect, the special effects are top-notch, and the climactic battles are immersive and gripping. Yet there’s also the Marvel tradition of some fairly ordinary photography in between, perhaps showing cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s limited experience with blockbusters. (There are also some shots that I swear were out of focus, but I am willing to blame this on the cinema projection).

On one hand, BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER is the kind of film that Phase Four has needed all along. It contains familiar characters, an expansion of an existing world, while introducing a major character for the future of the franchise. Yet, like Shuri taking on the Black Panther mantle, it is still finding its feet. It will be interesting to see where this timeline branches off to next.

2022 | USA | DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler | WRITERS: Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole | CAST: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Angela Bassett | DISTRIBUTOR: Disney | RUNNING TIME: 161 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 10 November 2022 (AUS), 11 November 2022 (USA)

November 14, 2022
Australia’s ‘Cargo’ gets new trailer and poster from Umbrella

Umbrella Entertainment has dropped a new trailer and poster for Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling’s superb film CARGO. While the rest of the world gets the film via Netflix on 18 May 2018, the festival success and rave reviews have led to the film garnering a theatrical release on 17 May 2018 around Australia.

Adapting their own Tropfest short of the same name, the feature film introduces us to Andy (Martin Freeman) and Kay (Susie Porter) and their daughter Rosie, surviving on a houseboat in the wake of a pandemic. When tragedy strikes, Andy has less than 48 hours to find a suitable caretaker for Rosie before he too succumbs to the virus.

We reviewed the film in October last year at the Adelaide Film Festival, throwing a 4-star review at it: “A terrific spin on the ‘zombie’ movie, weaving traditional Aboriginal narratives into an unforgiving landscape for an experience that’s truly unique.”

Umbrella’s Head of Theatrical Dov Kornits said “CARGO is one of the best and most commercial Australian films of the year. The reaction at the film’s World Premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival last year was overwhelming, and we saw first-hand how audiences respond to the emotional journey of this film.”

CARGO is also bound for the Tribeca Film Festival in New York at the end of the month.

April 4, 2018
Review: Black Panther

From its opening frames, BLACK PANTHER marks itself as trying something unique within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like Guardians of the Galaxy before it, Ryan Coogler physically separates his hero from the rest of the Avengers, giving him the space to explore styles and themes that the mostly western heroes couldn’t fathom.

In a joyous display of colour and activity, Coogler’s film takes us directly into the technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda. Following the events of Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to claim the throne. However, an unexpected challenge comes from his late father’s past, something that elder statesman Zuri (Forest Whitaker) knows more about than he’s letting on.

After a magnificently realised opening act, in which the Afrofuturism of Wakanda is given ample time to evolve, BLACK PANTHER rapidly falls back on some familiar narrative crutches. Indeed, it mirrors the basic structure of Thor and the more recent Spider-Man: Homecoming, in that a hero has his mantle briefly taken away just so he can prove that he is worthy of it. Yet there’s a sense of ‘wash rinse repeat’ in the elongated first section, as challenge after challenge soon gets tiresome.

So it’s not surprising that it gets tangled up when it tries to separate from its own framework. Coogler sets up a rich culture filled with strong warrior women – Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and the formidable Angela Bassett (who plays Ramonda, T’Challa’s mother). We’d happily watch a whole movie around T’Challa’s sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), who is effectively the Q to T’Challa’s James Bond. However, as soon as Wakandan awesomeness has been established, we’re plonked in the middle of South Korea for reasons that have more to do with film production than plot. The car chase that follows is wickedly executed, but could have been lifted out of any action film to date.

Maybe this isn’t so much a problem of Black Panther not fitting into the Marvel mould as it is Marvel not gelling with the movie Black Panther wants to be. After facing the initial threat of Ulysses Klaue (the delightfully scene-chewing Andy Serkis), the late arrival of new challenger Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Michael B. Jordan) takes the film in a very different direction. Not only does his arc tie the film more immediately to the Black Lives Matter movement, but it gives the titular hero a doppelgänger to fight for the throne.

Here the film has nowhere to go but a confrontation of ideals, interpreted on screen as some gymnastic fisticuffs while dodging a series of maglev trains. We’ve been here so many times before that you may find yourself mentally checking your shopping lists while waiting for the inevitable heroic victory. After all, we’ve already seen T’Challa requisitioning Captain America a shield in the Avengers: Infinity War trailer, so we know he’s got at least one more film in him after this one.

None of this detracts from the importance of BLACK PANTHER in the broader cultural context. This is a rare instance of a major superhero film featuring a cast that is almost entirely made up of persons of colour. It’s just a shame that there is nothing in this film that draws on T’Challa’s rich comic book and cultural heritage in any significant way, leaving us with just another masked Avenger to add more grist to the plastic mill.

[stextbox id=”grey” bgcolor=”F2F2F2″ mleft=”5″ mright=”5″ image=”null”]2018 | US | DIRECTORS: Ryan Coogler | WRITERS: Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole | CAST:Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis | DISTRIBUTOR: Disney | RUNNING TIME: 134 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 15 February 2018 (AUS) [/stextbox]

February 7, 2018
Review: Cargo

The zombie film has undergone some pretty radical changes between the late, great George Romero and The Walking Dead. What keeps us engaged with the stories is the core belief that humanity will ‘make it’ even in the face of adversity. Which is what makes Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling’s CARGO less about zombies than it does about survival and love.

Adapting their own Tropfest short of the same name, the feature film introduces us to Andy (Martin Freeman) and Kay (Susie Porter) and their daughter Rosie, surviving on a houseboat in the wake of a pandemic. When tragedy strikes, Andy has less than 48 hours to find a suitable caretaker for Rosie before he too succumbs to the virus.

If Geoffrey Simpson’s breathtaking photography of outback South Australia doesn’t immediately distinguish CARGO from other films in the genre, then Ramke and Howling’s commitment to world-building will. They don’t simply place their lone wolf and cub in the middle of a familiar setting, but instead craft a whole background to the viral epidemiology and the response to it.

This is never done with heavy-handed exposition, with Ramke’s occasionally episodic script dropping visual hints about the events that led to this. ‘First aid’ kits tell us all we need to know about how far the virus had advanced by the time we join Andy and Rosie. A key encounter with Vic (Anthony Hayes) and Lorraine (Caren Pistorius) show us what people are willing to do for the sake of normality in this fresh hell of post-apocalyptic Australia.

Undoubtedly one of the points of difference is the seamless incorporation of Indigenous stories into the character arcs, principally led by the young Toohie, in search of the Cleverman (David Gulpilil) who she believes can save her own zombified father. Rather than come across as somehow tokenistic, these elements offer an alternative to the returning to ‘status quo’ before the plague.

Freeman leads an excellent cast, taking his unlikely trajectory as a leading man and focusing all of his energy on a singular goal. Hayes and Pistorius in particular offer great counterpoints to his protectionism, and its great to see faces like Rabbit-Proof Fence‘s Natasha Wanganeen in small but significant roles.

While there’s a very thin line that CARGO skirts along the edges of saviour and magical native narratives, it never gives into either. What Ramke and Howling manage to do is use our familiarity with the tropes and continue to ramp up the tension until we get to the inevitable but powerful conclusion. The result is a showcase for original Australian stories, and one of the most remarkable new takes on the genre.

2017 | Australia | DIR: Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling | WRITERS: Yolanda Ramke | CAST: Martin Freeman, Anthony Hayes, Caren Pistorius, David Gulpilil, Susie Porter, Kris McQuade, Bruce R. Carter, Natasha Wanganeen | DISTRIBUTOR: Umbrella Entertainment Films (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6 October 2017 (ADLFF)

October 6, 2017
First look at Martin Freeman in Australian zombie film ‘Cargo’

A first look image of Emmy and BAFTA award winning actor Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Black Panther, Sherlock, Fargo) in CARGO has been released. The Australian set zombie film (of sorts) hits screens in 2017, but an early look has been released by the film’s producers.

Stranded in rural Australia in the aftermath of a violent pandemic, an infected man desperately seeks a new guardian for his infant child, and a means to protect her from his own changing nature. Salvation may lie with an isolated Aboriginal tribe, but to gain access he must first earn the allegiance of a young Indigenous girl on a tragic quest of her own.

Continuing a year of genre films in Australia, Freeman stars alongside Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard – Best Actor winner David Gulpilil (Charlie’s Country, Ten Canoes, Storm Boy), Anthony Hayes (Animal Kingdom, The Light Between Oceans, upcoming War Machine), Caren Pistorius (Slow West, Offspring, The Light Between Oceans), Susie Porter (Puberty Blues, Better Than Sex, Little Fish) and newcomer Simone Landers.

The script was written by Yolanda Ramke, who is co-directing with Ben Howling. Causeway Films producers Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton (The Babadook) are working alongside Addictive Pictures’ Russell Ackermann and John Schoenfelder, with Mark Patterson attached as South Australian producer.

The short film upon which the film is based was a finalist in Tropfest 2013 and subsequently has become the most watched film on the festivals YouTube channel, attracting more than 10 million views. You can check it out below.

September 23, 2016
Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

A film that exists entirely within its own Kabubble of normalcy.

Based on Kim Barker’s journalistic memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the subtly name-changed Kim Baker (Tina Fey) finds herself covering the Afghanistan conflict in the early 2000s after being dissatisfied with her menial desk job. Alongside correspondents Tanya Vanderpoel (Margot Robbie) and the sleazy Scottish freelance photographer Iain MacKelpie (Martin Freeman), a short jaunt becomes her whole focus as they all collectively get stuck in what they call the “Kabubble” of normalcy.

A 2011 New York Times article noted that in Barker’s original book, “she depicts herself as a sort of Tina Fey character,” and tonally the film fits in perfectly with Fey’s oeuvre. Indeed, there’s a little something of Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H as the first half of Crazy Stupid Love directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s film turns from fish-out-of-water culture shock comedy to a darker shade of introspection, boosted by writer Robert Carlock’s ear for clever dialogue. The tension between this transition causes some pacing issues in an elongated second act, but thanks to the strong performances from Fey and Freeman in particular, viewers may find themselves in their own Kabubble and strangely compelled to spend a little more time with these characters. Chameleon Alfred Molina plays Ali Massoud Sadiq in a small but troubling role, one that either speaks to the potential racial insensitivity of the film, or its observational approach to an outsider’s view of a foreign land. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT is a curious film in the end, and there’s a lot to unpack in it. Most will come for the performances, but stay for the universal (if somewhat heavy-handed) thematic undercurrent of self-empowerment, as strange a concept as that is for a film set in Afghanistan.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT is released in Australia on 12 May 2016 from Paramount.

2016 | US | Dir: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa | Writers: Robert Carlock | Cast: Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Billy Bob Thornton | Distributor: Paramount | Running time: 112 minutes | Rating:★★★½ (7/10).

May 10, 2016
Edgar Wright’s The World’s End Begins Production

Focus Features and Universal has sent over the press release announcing the start of production on The World’s End, effectively the third film in the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost partnership that forms the “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy”. When we spoke with Simon Pegg late last year, he described the film as “the answer to the equation Shaun times Hot Fuzz. And it seals it it as a three part film series”.

It marks another couple of busy years for Wright as well, who is attached to a remake of The Night Stalker with Johnny Depp and of course, Ant-Man for Marvel Studios.

Working Title Films and Big Talk Productions have commenced filming on The World’s End, the third installment of Edgar Wright’s trilogy of comedies, following the successes Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). The new movie is filming in the U.K. As with the first two movies in the trilogy, Universal Pictures International (UPI) will distribute The World’s End internationally and Focus Features will distribute it in North America.

As with the two earlier pictures, Mr. Wright co-wrote the script with Simon Pegg, who will once again star alongside Nick Frost. Joining the team are actors Martin Freeman (Shaun of the Dead, The Hobbit), Paddy Considine (Hot Fuzz, The Bourne Ultimatum), Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes), and Rosamund Pike (Jack Reacher).

The World’s End also marks Mr. Wright’s third movie with Working Title and Big Talk, following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz; The World’s End is produced by Nira Park of Big Talk and Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. The film will be executive-produced by James Biddle, Mr. Wright, Mr. Pegg, Mr. Frost, and Liza Chasin.

Mr. Wright is also reteaming with such creative collaborators as director of photography Bill Pope, production designer Marcus Rowland, hair and make-up designer Jane Walker, editor Paul Machliss, stunt coordinator Bradley Allen, and VFX Double Negative. Guy Speranza is the film’s costume designer.

In The World’s End, 20 years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hellbent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by mate Gary King (Simon Pegg), a 40-year-old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their hometown and once again attempts to reach the fabled pub – The World’s End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind’s. Reaching The World’s End is the least of their worries.

September 29, 2012
The Pirates: A Band of Misfits Wishes You A Happy Valentine’s Day

Sony and The Pirate Captain have sent us a very happy Valentine’s Day message, reassuring us that “The Ladies Just Can’t Resist the Booty”.

In The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Hugh Grant stars in his first animated role as the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain — a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award. It’s a quest that takes our heroes from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London. Along the way they battle a diabolical queen (Imelda Staunton) and team up with a haplessly smitten young scientist (David Tennant), but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure!

The Pirates: A Band of Misfits is released in Australia on 5 April 2012 from Sony.

February 14, 2012
New image from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Yahoo! Movies aids the mighty quest to release The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey one frame at a time.

Synopsis: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths ofguile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is released on 26 December 2012 in Australia from Roadshow. The film will debut in the US on 14 December 2012.

Click photo to enlarge!

January 30, 2012
New photo of Martin Freeman in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Los Angeles Times has posted a new photo of Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Synopsis: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyfollows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths ofguile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is released on 26 December 2012 in Australia from Roadshow. The film will debut in the US on 14 December 2012.

Click photo to enlarge!

January 15, 2012