Tag: Warner

Review: A Minecraft Movie

The lesson we should have taken from Barbie—beyond its critique of societal expectations and perfectionism—is that big-budget films about female empowerment resonate with audiences. Yet the counters of beans have instead fixated on the value of co-branding a film with an existing product, sidestepping the messy business of having to explain a new concept to prospective viewers.

Which brings us to A MINECRAFT MOVIE. By the time the story proper kicks off, we’ve already had two expository voiceovers laying out the rules of the world we’re about to enter. Taking a leaf from the Jumanji playbook, we see Steve (Jack Black) pulled into the cube-shaped Overworld after discovering a mysterious glowing orb. He builds a wonderland of his own imagination—until the evil Malgosha (voiced by Rachel House) sets her sights on the orb for her own devious purposes.

Where the five (count ’em) credited writers take this next is fairly predictable. After introducing us to a quirky town built around a chip factory—about the only place where Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess gets to showcase his offbeat humour—we follow creative kid Henry (Sebastian Hansen) through the portal to the Overworld. Along for the ride are his guardian and sister Natalie (Emma Myers), Dawn (Danielle Brooks), and Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), a former ’80s video game champion hopelessly stuck in the past.

The traditional problem with these kinds of films is that they have to play within the specific parameters of the brand’s world. Minecraft, much like LEGO, has the minor advantage of encouraging open play and imaginative exploration. Yet with that comes the challenge, as director Hess once put it, of how to “adapt something that doesn’t have a story.”

Hess’ film has a story—it’s just wholly subservient to the form. Where The LEGO Movie gleefully broke as many rules as it laid out, here he’s forced to tick off familiar totems rather than develop the characters: the fried chicken, the zombies, the stash, the diamond mines, and so on. Other elements are simply abandoned, perhaps assuming the target audience wouldn’t notice or care.

Natalie and Dawn are sidelined for long stretches, seemingly just to make room for Black’s comedy dance routines or his double-act with Momoa. Meanwhile, an entire romantic subplot between Henry’s vice principal and a cube-shaped villager who wandered into the real world serves no purpose—except to remind us that Jennifer Coolidge is a precious natural resource that shouldn’t be squandered on a throwaway role.

All other characters are computer generated, keeping with the blocky source material. The brightly coloured background gives some visual appeal, and stays authentic to the game’s origins, even if the tactile nature of the textured mapped pig flesh is somewhat unnerving. As such, the voice acting is key, and while it’s always great to see Rachel House’s name in the credits, here it just feels like a first pass recording.

A MINECRAFT MOVIE is a frustrating enterprise because it’s so close to being something more. There are genuinely funny moments, especially when the film plays with the quirks of the real world (which, honestly, could have been a whole movie on its own). At the screening event, one young fan, surrounded by McHappy Meals and giant recreations of blocks, was heard to remark, “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.” And maybe that’s the lesson Hollywood really took from Barbie—that brand loyalty will always win out in the end.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Jared Hess | WRITERS: Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, Chris Galletta | CAST: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 3 April 2025 (Australia), 4 April 2025 (USA)

April 3, 2025
Review: Mickey 17

So, you’re Bong Joon-ho. Your film Parasite unanimously wins the Palme d’Or, becomes the highest-grossing South Korean film in history, and pulls off the Guinness World Record feat of scoring Academy Awards for Best Picture, International Feature Film, Original Screenplay, and Director. Naturally, your next move is a sci-fi black comedy romance with Robert Pattinson.

For those only half-watching Bong’s career, this might seem like an odd, left-field pivot into Hollywood. But let’s not forget: Snowpiercer already took him there, and Okja brought the titular genetic super pig to Netflix screens. This is hardly new ground for a filmmaker whose tongue has always been planted firmly in cheek.

Based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey7, writer/director Bong leans into the same over-the-top satire as Okja, landing somewhere near Starship Troopers. The film follows Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) and his childhood friend Timo (Steven Yeun), who flee Earth for the offworld colony of Niflheim after falling into debt over a Macron business.

Without reading the fine print, Mickey signs on as an ‘Expendable’—a human drone sent in for the dangerous work. When he dies (which he has, sixteen times by the time we meet him), he’s simply printed again with his memories intact. Things get complicated when Mickey 17 is mistakenly presumed dead and Mickey 18 takes his place.

There’s very little subtlety to MICKEY 17, which might be one of the most glorious things about it. The expedition is led by failed political candidate turned cult leader Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), whose followers wear red caps with slogans on them. Yes, it’s that kind of picture. Yet in a film where Pattinson regularly flops out of a printing tube like meat, and Marshall’s wife Ylfa (a wonderfully unhinged Toni Collette) has an unhealthy obsession with sauces, you can’t afford to take half-bites.

One of the joys of the first half of the film is watching Pattinson’s take on the monotony of functional immortality. Between the daily grind and being dispensed in increasingly absurd fashion, Mickey 17 has resigned himself to eke out existence just as it is. A light romance with security agent Nasha (Naomi Ackie), who has remained his girlfriend since his first iteration, adds a sliver of emotional grounding.

With the arrival of Mickey 18—and a wonderfully chaotic dual turn from Pattinson—the film shifts gears. The discovery of giant bugs on Niflheim sets up broad satire on the nature of colonisation, religious fanaticism, and arguably, immigration as well. Here, Ruffalo and Collette deliver their batty best, skewering everything from conservative televangelists to political leaders like, well, you know.

There’s possibly too much happening in the last act of MICKEY 17, particularly during an extended denouement that tries to pull the rug out from under us more than once. Still, Bong’s film remains a sharp and enjoyable sci-fi flick with a brain—one smart enough to know when to be stupid.

2025 | USA, South Korea | DIRECTOR: Bong Joon-ho | WRITERS: Bong Joon-ho | CAST: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures (USA), Universal Pictures (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 137 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6 March 2025 (Australia), 7 March 2025 (USA)

March 5, 2025
Review: Dune – Part Two

Despite a long-held belief that Dune was unfilmable, Denis Villeneuve proved quite the opposite in 2021. It wasn’t just that previous filmmakers hadn’t understood the premise or had access to the right level of special effects, they perhaps didn’t have the capacity to give the material breathing space. With DUNE: PART TWO, Villeneuve defies the old adage to prove that very good things come in quite large packages.

Picking up shortly after the events of the first part, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) survives the Harkonnen attack, allying himself with the Fremen of Arrakis to bring down the invaders. Thanks to the machinations of his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), Freman leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) believes Paul and Jessica have been sent to bring about a prophecy. However, warrior – and Paul’s love interest – Chani (Zendaya) sees the prophecy as another tool of oppression.

Glossu Rabban Harkonnen (Dave Bautista), nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), fails to control the spice production and destroy the last of the free. So, the Baron sends his other nephew Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler) to finish the job. From afar, Princess Irulan Corrino (Florence Pugh), the Emperor’s (Christopher Walken) daughter, is convinced of Paul’s survival and prepares her own plans.

From the moment a voice booms “Power over spice is power over all”, Villeneuve immerses audiences completely in his version of this world. There’s no recaps or pandering to an audience with short memories: we’re straight into the desert, running skirmishes against Harkonnen and tripping out on the holy waters of worm juice. This is pure cinematic storytelling of the highest order.

Yet even with the long running time – at almost three hours, it comes in slightly longer than the first half – there are moments that feel artificially compressed. At one point, there’s a massive build-up to Paul’s trek across the desert, as though it will be his ultimate test. Then it’s kind of over, and he’s in a relationship with Chani. As with Zendaya’s moments in the first film, Pugh feels sandwiched in to establish something that’s not wholly explored here.

Which is not to diminish the film’s many accomplishments. The intricacies of building not just a narrative but an entire mythology are daunting for any storyteller. Bringing Herbert’s vision to screen has vexed many filmmakers before Villeneuve, and will no doubt do so again in the next wave of remakes and reimaginings. Still, the boldness of a film that challenges the very foundations of prophecy, religion and holy wars will not be lost on viewers in 2024.

On a purely audiovisual level, it’s still difficult to say where the practical ends and digital begins. Sure, a giant skull-shaped tank in the middle of a desert isn’t something that exists, but there are moments where it feels just as much art documentary as wholly created. As complex as the story remains, without quite the same level of world building needed, Villeneuve allows himself some visual indulgences. During an arena sequence at House Harkonnen, for example, almost all colour drops from the picture to give audiences a laser focus on the moment. At other times, the climactic moments of worms crashing on the scene are just cool.

It’s no secret that Villeneuve is planning Dune: Messiah to complete the cinematic trilogy, so we are ultimately left with a story just beginning. Indeed, taken by itself it’s still half a film and must be considered together with Dune at the very least. At the end of the day, DUNE (in its totality) has elevated the notion of what a modern blockbuster can be. If cinema as we know it is prophesied to die out, it’s now up to audiences to read the right signs and demand more like it lest we face an entertainment landscape as barren as Arrakis.

2024 | USA | DIRECTOR: Denis Villeneuve | WRITER: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts | CAST: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Souheila Yacoub, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. Pictures (US) | RUNNING TIME: 165 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 28 February 2024 (Australia)

March 10, 2024
Review: Barbie

The road to the Barbie movie, at least for most punters, has taken us on a range of reactions as diverse as the titular doll’s career. What began as a curiosity, thanks largely to the presence of indie monarchs Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, rapidly gave way to mega hype, followed by acknowledgement of the perfect casting, then some fatigue at the bombardment of marketing, and ultimately back to genuine curiosity again.

As BARBIE is finally launched on very suspecting audiences, there was still a sense that we didn’t know precisely what to expect in the way of a story. After all, even with the mammoth advertising budget, the trailers told us very little beyond it being a spin on The LEGO Movie’s basic premise — with a splash of the good old-fashioned fish-out-of-water motif.

Which is exactly where Gerwig’s film kicks off. When we meet the Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie), the Narrator (Helen Mirren) reliably tells us Barbieland is a place where all the women have come together to make life better for each other. People have their lots in life, and everything is awesome every day. Except Stereotypical Barbie can’t escape impending thoughts of mortality and (shock horror) cellulite.

So begins her journey to the Real World, to heal the rift by meeting the mother and daughter (America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt respectively) whose emotions may be impacting Barbie’s psyche. Ken (Ryan Gosling) hitches a ride in the back seat, learning about the patriarchy and horses in the process. Meanwhile, the CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell) tries to contain the escape of their fictional dolls into the real world.

BARBIE the movie is like the doll of the same name. It takes a scattergun approach to its themes, trying them on like so many outfits. As an audience member, it’s almost like watching the storyboarding process in real time. As a visual feast, Gerwig’s film works best when it skewers the plastic world, emulating the effortless imagination of play, and replicating details right down to the decals in the fridges. Here it has broad appeal to younger viewers while allowing knowing audiences in on the joke.

Of course, we saw all that in the trailer, and it takes a while for the film to really get beyond that schtick. Indeed, there’s a whole section in the middle where it feels like it’s just people going back and forth between the Real World and Barbieland. Ferrell’s character feels most superfluous at this point, almost as if he’s only there because Mattel corporate wanted to flex control with a literal representation on screen.

When the film shifts gears late in the third act, centered on an electrifying speech from Ferrera about the impossible standards women are held to, we finally get to the heart of Gerwig and Baumbach’s pitch. It’s a lightning rod moment, and that it came from a major studio picture sponsored by a toy company makes it all the more powerful. Yet this too is almost immediately enveloped by the (admittedly impressive) dance sequences, warring Kens, and last wave of cameos. Like the Kens and Barbies, here is a film tonally at war with itself in its last minutes. This is, after all, still a branding exercise.

Robbie and Gosling are unquestionably perfectly cast as the visual representations of Stereotypical Barbie and Ken, but with the knowing sense of humour to make the self-referential material work. Everyone from Simu Liu to Kate McKinnon, Rob Brydon, Issa Rae, and even Rhea Perlman make for some fun Easter egg spotting. While Michael Cera might play to type as Ken’s buddy Allan, he gets some of the best one-liners as well.

Which cannot be emphasised enough: BARBIE is smart and funny. It’s a sharp take down of the binary paradigm, referencing everything from the Snyder Cut to men who make their partners watch The Godfather. It’s as though Gerwig and Baumbach have quietly absorbed all of the toxic internet behaviours and reflected them back to us. If it’s not clear enough, there’s literally a scene where Mattel executives try to put Barbie back in her box.

Still, it’s really hard to say exactly who the audience for BARBIE might be. If you’re looking for a brightly coloured version of the character coming to life in the real world, you’ll get that – for a time. If you want a timely exploration of toxic masculinity, that’s there too. Younger audiences will enjoy some of the humour, but may tune out for the speeches. Older audiences will wait through two acts of capering before they get to the meat of the piece.

The messaging might ultimately be a positive one, that anyone can be either anything they want, or nothing at all – and that it’s okay either way. Yet in trying to be everything to everyone, it’s a lesson the film itself might have failed to learn. Nevertheless, it’s very vivid acknowledgement that we’re all human, trying to get through this thing called life one day at a time.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Greta Gerwig | WRITERS: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach | CAST: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. Pictures (US) | RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 20 July 2023 (AUS), 21 July 2023 (US)

July 19, 2023
Review: The Flash

“The Multiverse,” remarks one Bruce Wayne. “It’s all just a crapshoot.” He might be right, but it was the one defining feature of the DC Comics universe for decades. It tied together colliding worlds, various crises on infinite earths, and more reboots than we can count. Yet when it came to the movies, everyone from the MCU to Michelle Yeoh beat them to it.

It’s taken a while for Warner to build up enough cache to even attempt something as ambitious, at least on paper, as THE FLASH. After all, Sony had to reboot Spider-Man three times before they started mashing them up. The DC Extended Universe’s path here has been just as rocky, from a legally embattled star, to cancelled projects and a string of critically and commercially disappointing films. Yes, we’re looking at you Black Adam and Shazam: Fury of the Gods.

Yet THE FLASH, by its very nature and origin, is about tying together loose ends. Christina Hodson’s screenplay is loosely based on the DC Comics Flashpoint event of 2011, and has previously been adapted in CW’s The Flash series and as the DC Universe Animated Original Movie Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. That series rebooted the whole DCU for a line-wide reboot, but not before having some fun with the characters.

In Hodson and director Andy Muschietti’s version, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is feeling less than stellar about his lot in life. Between being on clean-up duty for the Justice League, and his dad’s (Ron Livingston) pending retrial for a wrongful conviction of murdering Barry’s mother, he is feeling less than valued. When Barry discovers he can use the Speed Force to time travel, he goes back to save his mother, despite Bruce Wayne/Batman’s (Ben Affleck) warnings.

In doing so, he creates a whole new timeline. Landing in an alternate past, he has to seek the aid of his younger self, a retired Batman (Michael Keaton), and Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El (Sasha Calle) to stop this world’s General Zod (Michael Shannon) from finishing the work he started in Man of Steel.

Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room: the special effects. If you’re reading this, chances are pretty good you’ve either heard some things about the CGI or have witnessed their uniqueness for yourself. There are some stellar sequences, and the doubling of Barry in almost every scene is flawless. The desert-based climactic battle is actually an effective use of multiple effects elements.

Still, when it goes wrong, it all goes very wrong very quickly. It begins with a nightmarishly rendered rescue sequence, a literal shower of CG babies and a dog. Yet this pales in comparison to the Speed Force sequences, where barely rendered versions of Miller and other DCEU characters loom over audiences like bootleg parade balloons. For a film that reportedly cost in excess of $200 million, one wonders where all the cash went.

We can sort of put the effects to one side though, as it’s not the biggest of the film’s problems. The cameos can be quite cool in places, but once they’ve occurred, everything else is just grist for the mill. Perhaps suffering in proximity to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, THE FLASH doesn’t learn Spidey’s most fundamental lesson: with great intellectual property comes greater responsibility. Hell, the 1989 Batmobile is used as nothing more than an armchair for one of the Ezra Millers.

Which isn’t to say that THE FLASH hasn’t found room to have a little fun. I will be the first (or 500th) to admit how cool it is to see Keaton back playing Batman, complete with little stings from Danny Elfman’s score. There’s a recurring gag about Eric Stoltz playing Marty McFly in Back to the Future in this universe. Even watching Barry suit-up from his Flash ring made this fanboy smile.

The issue is that there’s very little connective glue or character development for anyone. Barry simply reacts most of the time, often to himself, and Miller’s choices with the role simply aren’t charismatic enough to justify two of them on the screen. Keaton’s presence doesn’t make a massive amount of sense, but he at least seems to be having fun with what he’s given. Calle steps into the Supergirl role confidently, and we can look forward to her solo film, but her portrayal isn’t allowed to do more than a series of angry punches.

In the end, we’ve just seen it all done before, and better. CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths came closer to capturing the joy of the shared history of these characters, and one has to wonder if Flashpoint’s comic book plotting would have worked better here. In the text, it’s an alternate Thomas Wayne who has lost Martha and Bruce to crime and subsequently becomes Batman. The denouement sees him give Barry a letter to take home to Bruce to give him closure, which brings the Bat’s dark journey full circle. The film goes as far as referencing Bruce and Barry’s joint pain of parental loss, but it’s never developed any further. Like many things in the movie, it’s a missed opportunity.

If the closure of the DCEU is the point of THE FLASH, then time will tell. In fact, it’s hard to know why this movie survived the great Warner/Discovery cull when Batgirl was deemed to be too unmarketable for the cinema. After all, it too had a Keaton Batman. With James Gunn now helming the next chapter of the universe, we’re yet to see how much this plays into the franchise’s future. For now, it is stubbornly looking backwards, trying to keep a foot in each camp. For a character who runs a lot, surely they know that’s a trip hazard.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Andy Muschietti | WRITERS: Christina Hodson | CAST: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, Michael Keaton | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal (AUS), Warner (US) | RUNNING TIME: 144 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 15 June 2023 (AUS), 16 June 2023 (US)

June 18, 2023
Review: Black Adam

The DC Extended Universe is at something of a crossroads right now. Following the eventual release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Matt Reeves’ The Batman took a step away from established continuities. Then Discovery, Warner’s new business daddy, dumped Batgirl as a tax write-off. With Wonder Woman 1984 failing to excite audiences or critics, it’s been left to the historically second tier characters of Aquaman and Shazam to bring some light back to this comic book world.

Black Adam emerges from the pages of the latter, traditionally being a foil and anti-hero to Shazam’s misfit family of heroes. In director Jaume Collet-Serra’s adaptation, his story begins in the fictional kingdom of Kahndaq in 2600 BCE. A tyrannical ruler makes the citizens mine for the rare Eternium in the hopes he can craft a mystical crown. When a rebellious child stands up to his oppressors, the wizards of Shazam save him to become their champion, Teth-Adam.

By the time the story proper picks up, the rest of the backstory has become legend. Modern day Kahndaq is under the thumb of the criminal organisation Intergang. Multiple parties are in search of the ancient crown, including the wanted Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) and her family. The quest results in the unleashing of the destructive Teth-Adam (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) on the modern world, although his motivations are now ambiguous. Suicide Squad’s Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) activates the Justice Society to take him down, including Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo).

BLACK ADAM is, to put it bluntly, chaos on wheels. Swinging from scenes that are thuggish smash and grabs to other high-octane set pieces, it leaves very few moments for reflection in its two-hour running time. The many tonal shifts are exacerbated by a soundtrack that pings about from the Smashing Pumpkins through The Rolling Stones, Ennio Morricone, Kanye West and Player’s ‘Baby Come Back’ (used twice!) Lorne Balfe’s score is competent, but has no strong motifs to distinguish it. Mind you, none of this means that it isn’t also crazy fun at times.

In a crowded market of action movies, the screenplay (from Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani) has an each way bet: we get to see The Rock tearing through henchmen with violent indifference, while there’s a hero squad who seem to be there purely for fanservice. (Mind you, it’s the Rock, so we know that he isn’t going to finish the movie as a completely bad guy). After small screen appearances in the Arrowverse/The CWverse, I have to admit to getting a little bit thrilled seeing a stacked Dr. Fate and Hawkman mixing it up on the big screen.

The characters are a bit of a mixed bag though, often feeling like they’ve stepped in from another movie entirely. Brosnan is refined and cool as hell as Fate, even if his powers and motivations are ill-defined. Hodge’s Carter Hall comes off as a dick more often than not, combining several of the many incarnations of Hawkman over the years. Cyclone (who first appeared in the Elseworlds graphic novel Kingdom Come) and Atom Smasher were total missed opportunities though, mostly wasted as filler characters or set-ups for future stories. The Rock abides.

BLACK ADAM may not reach the dizzying heights of DC’s most epic stories, or the sheer fun of its sibling Shazam, but it is still entertaining for the duration. As for where the DCEU heads next, much of that will probably depend on the box office results of this and the next few films. If you stay until the mid-credits teaser, you will get a pretty strong indication on who that might involve. (Hint: it’s very exciting). For now, Warner is taking a swing at a new direction, and maybe only Dr. Fate knows where it will land.

2022 | USA | DIRECTOR: Jaume Collet-Serra | WRITERS: Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani | CAST: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Bodhi Sabongui, Pierce Brosnan | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. Pictures (USA) | RUNNING TIME: 124 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 20 October 2022 (AUS), 21 October 2022 (USA)

October 20, 2022
Review: The Matrix Resurrections

In a year filled with nostalgic reboots, Lana Wachowski has quite literally set out to redefine that term. The latest film in the franchise harks right back to the original film in 1999, a year when Fight Club and The Phantom Menace polarised audiences for very different reasons. Now, eighteen years after The Matrix Revolutions, Wachowski presents something that is both a continuation and a reimagining of the original story.

Indeed, the opening scene of THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS is an almost shot-perfect replica of The Matrix’s cold open. As a representation of Trinity battles Agents, Bugs (Jessica Henwick) notices that old code is being used to send a message. It coincides with the appearance of a figure claiming to be Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Both share stories of having their eyes opened by a glimpse the long lost Neo (Keanu Reeves).

As the story slowly unfolds, it emerges that his alter ego Thomas Anderson is now working for a video game company, where he is the award-winning designer of a trilogy of Matrix games that mirror his past adventures. Retaining only dim memories of his former life, he is a suicide survivor who sees therapist (Neil Patrick Harris) to help him deal with an apparent mental illness. Yet when he meets Tiffany (Carrie Ann Moss), now married with children, an old connection reignites.

Lana Wachowski, working solo here due to Lilly Wachowski’s involvement with Showtime’s Work in Progress, appears to be stuck in a Matrix of her own. With co-writers David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas) and Aleksandar Hemon, she attempts to examine what The Matrix has become in the last two decades. Multiple in-jokes about “our beloved parent company Warner Bros.” and the corporate nature of reboots at least acknowledges what they’ve got themselves into. It’s kind of like when Chuck Palahniuk revisited Fight Club and found himself incorporating fan and film canon into his metatextual graphic novel. After all, The Matrix been parodied in everything from Shrek to Space Jam 2, and recognising the role of the film in the pop cultural landscape is a clever move on Wachowski’s part.

So, it’s a shame that once this genuinely intriguing setup unfurls, THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS immediately falls back on old constructs. Although it acknowledges the ambiguous ending of The Matrix Revolutions, and resolves the presence of characters who apparently died in that film, many of the set-pieces follow the same path as the original. Neo still knows kung fu, there’s another Smith (this time Jonathan Groff) on his tail, and even a rooftop helicopter escape. Cinematographers Daniele Massaccesi and John Toll frame these shots with deliberate tips of the hat to Bill Pope’s 1999 photography, often replicating them wholesale.

Which isn’t to say that these sequences can’t be cool, as there’s a certain pleasure in returning to this world. The canonical video games notwithstanding, the universe that the Wachowskis created has always been ripe for further exploration – especially in an era where the lines between reality and fiction have become mainstream political discourse. Yet if you now consider the simultaneously shot Reloaded and Revolutions as the middle chapters of the overall narrative – ones that hold up remarkably well in retrospect – then RESURRECTIONS is an ersatz coda to a story that already ended.

There’s a scene where a group of game designers sit around trying to pitch each other ideas for the in-universe sequel, caught as they are in a cynical cycle of commercialism. The moment is meant to be satire, but it’s something of a microcosm of the whole reboot. Here is a film that still feels like it is workshopping ideas as the end credits roll, unsure why it exists but also determined to give the people what they think they want. So, in a way we really do get to experience exactly what it’s like being jacked into the Matrix.

2021 | USA | DIRECTOR: Lana Wachowski | WRITERS: Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell, Aleksandar Hemon | CAST: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jada Pinkett Smith | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures/Warner Bros. (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 148 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 25 December 2021 (AUS)

December 22, 2021
Review: Dune

Frank Herbert’s stories have been on the sci-fi fantasy landscape long enough that everyone at has at least an idea of Dune. Whether it’s the endless swathes of sand or just really big worms, it has influenced countless productions and stories. After Alejandro Jodorowsky’s failed attempt, David Lynch’s problematic feature, and an under-budgeted mini-series, the book was largely thought to be unfilmable. At least until now.

Herbert’s work is sometimes difficult to follow let alone summarise, but here goes nothing. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) moves to the desert planet of Arrakis when his family accepts control of it. The only source of the highly valuable resource known as spice, their arrival results in betrayal, assassination attempts, the prophecy of a religion known as the Bene Gesserit and an almost mystical force that drives Paul towards the native peoples known as the Fremen.

If Herbert’s novel was a kind of colonialist fantasy, crafting Paul as a white god-king to tribal peoples, then the opening to director Denis Villeneuve’s version aims to establish two things. Firstly, through the narrative voice of Chani (Zendaya) — who Paul sees in prophetic visions — this is a reclamation of the story from the perspective of its fictional native peoples. The other thing that’s apparent is that Villeneuve’s aesthetic vision is a staggeringly beautiful one.

Villenievue is no stranger to iconic sci-fi, having wowed audiences with Arrival and disappointed others with Blade Runner 2049. Yet from the moment DUNE opens, it’s clear there is something a bit different about this outing, carrying with it an almost mythical weight that filled this viewer with unexpected awe. It’s transportive, from the costume designs (that look more than a little Moebius inspired at times, keeping Jodorowsky’s dream alive) to the stunning vistas. Production designer Patrice Vermette achieved this through a combination of large scale sets and effects, crafting something truly immersive.

DUNE is still a deeply complicated outing, and it’s possible that if you haven’t got some familiarity with the source material you’ll find yourself a wee bit lost at times. The intricate balance between the machinations of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (an almost unrecognisable Stellan Skarsgård) and the will of the Bene Gesserit are hard enough to follow on page let alone in a 156 minute film. It’s still quite the chore here, especially given it only covers part of the book, but when it’s this pretty you’re paying attention the whole time.

Film Twitter favourite Chalamet brings an excellent balance of boyishness and almost otherworldly grace to his Paul Atreides. Similarly, Rebecca Ferguson is a standout as the Lady Jessica, Paul’s Bene Gesserit mother and consort to Duke Leto (a bearded Oscar Isaac). It’s hard to get a bead on Zendaya’s take on Chani, as the film wraps up before he more significant scenes take place. (One review refers to being ‘Zendaya baited’ given her more visible presence in the publicity). One suspects she’ll be a major player in the next chapter.

Being in Australia, where the non-festival release date isn’t until December, we already knew that a Part 2 had been greenlit. While one could argue that this is only ‘half a film,’ being armed with the knowledge that this isn’t trying to cram all of Herbert’s tome into a single picture allows us some breathing room. Indeed, it allows us to simply sit back and absorb this as the spectacle that it is.

2021 | USA | DIRECTOR: Denis Villeneuve | WRITER: Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth | CAST: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. Pictures (US) | RUNNING TIME: 156 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 8 November 2021 (SFF), 2 December 2021 (AUS), 21 October 2021 (US)

November 16, 2021
Review: The Many Saints of Newark

Cast your minds back to the late 1990s when HBO was the only name worth uttering in the premium television game. Along with stablemates Oz and Sex and the City, David Chase’s The Sopranos led the pack in ensuring we’d be paying for good TV forever. Now, fourteen years after its controversial finale, director Alan Taylor and Chase have teamed up for a prequel that surely someone’s been calling for.

Narrated by Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), we go back to the salad days of 1967 when his father Dickie (Alessandro Nivola) was a mentor to young Tony Soprano (William Ludwig, and later Michael Gandolfini). Dickie’s father “Hollywood Dick” Moltisanti (Ray Liotta) has taken a new Italian bride (Michela De Rossi). In the background, tension mounts with the growing Newark race riots.

Which should all make for a fascinating playground for a period gangster film. Yet the ambitious plotting attempts to cram a whole season’s worth of foreshadowing and winking callbacks into a two-hour movie. (If you aren’t intimately familiar with the series, many of the references will fly over your head). Borderline incoherent at times, it swings from one scene to the next as if the tracks to the script were still being laid as the train pulled into the station.

Even the formidable cast — which also includes Vera Farmiga, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, a second version of Liotta and Corey Stoll (as a young Uncle Junior) — is left to simply go through the motions. In the absence of a singular driving line, the often exaggerated characters arrive in a series of abstract scenes.

At its best, the award-winning cast emotes through the thin material. At worst, such as John Magaro’s portrayal of a young Silvio Dante (played by Steve Van Zandt in the series), they are simply caricatures of more recognisable performances. The stunt casting of the late James Gandolfini’s son might give us a familiar connection, but it’s also emblematic of this problem.

The cynical viewer, or perhaps just the realist ones, will see THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK as a prelude to a new HBO Max series. Indeed, Warner has already indicated that’s exactly what they want. Yet countless prequels before this have shown that simply filling in some gaps are not enough to warrant a new story. So, if an ongoing series follows this outing, it has to exist as something more than just nostalgia.

2021 | USA | DIRECTOR: Alan Taylor | WRITER: David Chase, Lawrence Konner | CAST: Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Michael Gandolfini, Billy Magnussen, Michela De Rossi, John Magaro, Ray Liotta, Vera Farmiga | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 120 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 1 October 2021 (US), 4 November 2021 (US)

November 7, 2021
Review: Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Who would have thought that almost four years after the financially disappointing release of Justice League we’d still be talking about it? Let alone watching a cut almost twice the length?

The fans behind the #ReleasetheSnyderCut had a pretty good idea. Thanks to a social media campaign that cast its heroes and villains in archetypes as dichotomous as the comic book source material, Warner has invested almost $70 million in restoring cut footage and shooting new scenes. The result is somewhat remarkable.

When Snyder was forced to walk away from the film, partly to deal with a family tragedy, Warner handed the controls over to Joss Whedon. Coming off the back of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Whedon infused the film with a trademark levity that the studio — desperately playing catch-up with Marvel — thought was needed. The result was a film lighter in tone to Snyder’s Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, something I described at the time as “a strange assembly of disconnected pieces that still manages to…form something that looks and feels more or less functional.” The problem, as any fan will tell you, was that very little of it belonged to Snyder.

The film immediately distinguishes itself by showcasing the literal and figurative aftershock of Superman’s (Henry Cavill) death in the previous film. Snyder takes the time to examine the impact on each of the people who will eventually become part of the Justice League. In other words, we really see — to use the title of a 1990s comic — a World Without a Superman. The principal shift, of course, is the chief villain reveal of Darkseid (Ray Porter), the New God of Apokolips who is the ultimate power behind Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds).

With over two hours of extra stuff, this is more than a simple ‘special edition’ or ‘director’s cut.’ Indeed, there’s so many listicles dedicated to playing spot the difference, it would be be both redundant and time consuming to do so again here. What this mammoth beast provides that the Whedon cut did not is context. It speaks volumes about Joss that the bit he cut out was Cyborg’s (Ray Fisher) entire character arc, an essential story that gives added meaning to his various Motherbox McGuffins and the dramatic relationship with his father. Similarly, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is the Flash now, and there’s a clear path forward for him in future films if they pan out. The new moments with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) are also sublime.

This may not be perfect, and falls short of being a masterpiece by any objective standard, but if it fails it is not through lack of raw ambition. This is a Justice League in live action that at least partially recognises the scope of their potential, carved out of the same darkly filtered rock from which all of Snyder’s brutalist leanings spring. Yet for every rich new character moment, there’s a shameless bit of fan service. The introduction of a fan favourite character, for example, adds little beyond a moment of recognition.

From a technical point of view, the film is a visually impressive beast as well. Snyder has explained in the past why the IMAX-designed 4:3 aspect ratio, one typically seen in contemporary indies like First Cow, was used over the now traditional widescreen viewpoint. It might be a little jarring at first to modern eyes, but we soon adjust to the focus. Snyder’s trademark dark hues dictate the visual language, from the bleakness of Aquaman’s (Jason Momoa) fishing village to Superman’s new black threads. Think of it as a visual throwback to the heyday of 80s VHS, the kind where this film would have fit in alongside other insane high-concept blockbusters.

The apparent critical and commercial positivity of ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE leaves us in a bit of a quandary. Snyder is not the first filmmaker to get a second bite at a failed film: Blade Runner might be the most reworked film in the canon, while Francis Ford Coppola has widely acclaimed re-releases of Apocalypse Now Redux and most recently, The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. The Alien: Special Edition is now considered to be the superior version. George Lucas crafted an industry out of re-cutting his Star Wars films.

Yet here we also seem to have a studio conceding to aggressive fan wish-fulfilment, the kind that would have crowd-sourced a new edition of The Last Jedi if they had their way. Indeed, on the same day that the reviews came out, the #SnyderCut base were already calling for Warner to #ReleasetheAyerCut, referencing their attempts to restore David Ayer’s Suicide Squad to a state of pre-studio interference.

The distinction is that Snyder never got to finish the film he envisioned, and this seemingly provides some closure on that. Although one could still quibble about the odd tone of the ending, or that even after four hours we’ve just been set up for a (possibly dead in the water) sequel, this is grand storytelling in the biggest crossover tradition. This is Snyder’s voice writ large, and whether it is too little (or too much) too late will be seen in how Warner pivots on this pop cultural moment. After all, given the social media movement behind the (re)release, we know there’s a vocal group who sees this as a matter of, well, justice.

2021 | USA | DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder | WRITERS: Chris Terrio, Zack Snyder, Will Beall | CAST: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons | DISTRIBUTOR: Foxtel/Binge (AUS), HBO Max (US)| RUNNING TIME: 242 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 18 March 2021

March 22, 2021