Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice

(M) ★★

Director: Zack Snyder.

Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot.

"No, my mother is Martha!"

IT’S the year of the superhero showdown.

Magneto and Professor X will be at it again in X-Men: Apocalypse in May, Captain America and Iron Man throw down in Civil War in April, and right now we have the Caped Crusader duking it out with Kal-El of Krypton in Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice.

The latter is DC Comics’ attempt to build their own universe much like rival superhero stable Marvel has done with great success over the past decade. Following on from Superman reboot Man Of Steel, this is DC’s pre-Justice League warm-up, introducing a new (but old) Batman and giving audiences the about-bloody-time debut of Wonder Woman.

While the sound of a billion dollars flowing into their coffers will ease the pain, this is not the universally acclaimed appetite whetter DC was hoping for. It’s an out-and-out mess for much of its running time and only really hits its stride in the final act when the titular biffo begins.

Up until then, we’re saddled with a confusing and scattershot plot. Batman (Affleck) is on the hunt for a possible terrorist threat, all the while eyeing off Superman (Cavill), who Batman sees as a threat to humanity. The Dark Knight is not alone – Superman is the subject of much debate and political discussion as America tries to figure out if this seemingly omnipotent alien is going to be a happy god or a vengeful god.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Eisenberg) is trying to figure how to make this whole superhero thing work to his advantage, Lois Lane (Adams) is hunting terrorists in Africa, and Wonder Woman (Gadot) is attending functions and being mysterious.

Batman v Superman does a few really good things, the best of which is putting Ben Affleck in the Batsuit. Using an older, more cynical Dark Knight is one of the better ideas in the film, as it sets their Son of Gotham apart from the many that have come before, but it’s Affleck who really makes it work. He has the physicality, the suaveness, and the gravitas needed for the Batman/Bruce Wayne duality, and he absolutely nails it.

Equally good is Irons’ Alfred, who’s just as world-weary as his master and complicit in his vigilantism, despite his own protestations. It’s a relationship that feels lengthy and lived-in from the moment they pop up on screen together.

Cavill is also good – despite Man Of Steel being a disappointment, at least he was an ideal Superman. The same can be said for Adams as Lois Lane. Slightly less convincing is Gadot as Wonder Woman, although she’s given so little to do that’s it’s difficult to tell and probably too early to judge. Her place in this movie feels tacked on – it would be easy to edit her out of this film without losing any important plot details.

The award for biggest piece of miscasting goes to Jesse Eisenberg, whose Lex Luthor misses the mark by a mile. He never comes off as dangerously intelligent or a serious threat – instead he is a mess of tics and nerdiness that’s probably supposed to be a mix of Heath Ledger’s Joker and Eisenberg’s own Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network. Unfortunately his performance is a big ball of crazy, but it’s never scary-crazy or entertaining-crazy or funny-crazy or even interesting-crazy – just bad-crazy. His turn is like watching an actor try to chew the scenery only to have his dentures fall out at the crucial moments, except you don’t laugh – you just feel bad for him.

Eisenberg is not the film’s biggest problem though. That lies in either the script or the edit, or most likely both. The cleverest thing the movie does is take the biggest criticism of Man Of Steel – it’s mindless third-act carnage – and turn it into a jumping-off point for the better plot strands of Batman v Superman. It’s the reason why Batman and parts of American society don’t trust Superman or see him as a potentially apocalyptic liability. But this thread gets lost amid the adventures of Lois Lane, the shoehorning of Wonder Woman, the sprawling and nonsensical machinations of Lex Luthor, and a handful of bizarre dream sequences that add nothing (except for an idiotic and pointless Flash cameo). Two or possibly three movies have been squished into one, and it’s not a comfortable fit.

As is typical of Snyder, the film often goes for “looks awesome” over “makes sense”. Case in point is a dream sequence in which Batman fights a bunch of gunmen in a desert – it features the longest and most elaborate take in the entire movie but contributes nothing to the plot. Ditto for the “Dawn Of Justice” add-on, which consists of a handful of cameos that unnecessarily slow the film down just when it’s getting good.

It’s not a total waste of time. The dark tone sits well and is a nice counterpoint to the jokey reality of the Marvel cinematic universe, the Affleck-Irons double team is great, the ending is bold, and the title fight is pretty good.

The problem is the film struggles to find its focus for close to two hours. It’s only when its heroes begin punching each other in the face that it figures out what it’s supposed to be doing, and starts doing it well, which will be too little, too late for some.

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Zootopia

(PG) ★★★★½

Director: Byron Howard & Rich Moore.

Cast: (voices of) Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Nate Torrence, Octavia Spencer, Jenny Slate, Shakira.

"He's behind me, isn't he?"

THERE are moments in Disney’s latest animated classic-in-waiting where you have to remind yourself you’re watching a kids movie.

It’s as if the directors and the seven people credited with the story decided to see how many “grown-up” ideas they could throw at the script before people would notice.

That seems the most reasonable explanation for this wonderfully smart piece of computer animation, which is basically a police procedural about racism and prejudice peppered with references to The Godfather and Breaking Bad.

To put it in a more child-friendly way, it’s also the tale of a rabbit and a fox who team up to find some missing animals while learning lessons about being true to yourself and good to others, filtered through a Looney Tunes lens and references to Frozen (and there’s a decent Let It Go-style uplifting number called Try Everything to boot).

This multi-layered delivery makes it excellent entertainment for all ages – in fact, the only criticism is the film seems to pander more to the adults than the young’uns at times.

Goodwin voices Judy Hopps, a country-born rabbit following her dream of being the first of her species to become a police officer in the big city of Zootopia – an animal-built city where predator and prey live together in something close to harmony.

Hopps crosses paths with con-fox Nick Wilde (a perfectly cast Bateman), who may be the key to finding a missing otter and helping Hopps keep her badge.

The Disney team has created a compelling world that begs for sequels – the credits roll leaving you wanting to spend more time in Zootopia and its rural surrounds because it feels like a functioning place and not just an excuse for a barrage of animal gags (although I can’t help but wonder what the carnivores eat if it’s not their herbivorous neighbours).

Within this world, Judy and Nick are fascinating guides – the courageous yet naive rabbit and the cunning but cynical fox make for a great odd couple pairing that deserve more than one movie, mostly because they are well-rounded and nicely developed characters.

But will the kids like it? There are long stretches that feel better suited to the older audience, not because of “adult themes” but because how many kids watch detective dramas? You could hear the younger children squirming in the audience, waiting for the next big action scene or joke involving a sloth.

There are a couple of good scares in here too, and coupled with the sleuthy plot and its anti-prejudice undertones, it’s enough to keep the very young ones away. But the reality is this is a kids movie that will grow with the kids – they will find more to appreciate and understand with every viewing, which is the sign of a truly great family film.

Zootopia is a surprisingly sharp examination of racial profiling, prejudice, equality and stereotyping, and how often can you say that about a kids movie? It’s also the latest in a strong run of animated movies from Disney, who churned out a lot of average fare in the ‘00s but have delivered a quality streak (Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, and now this) since the turn of the decade.

Adults and children alike should walk away impressed by this fun yet thoughtful adventure.

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10 Cloverfield Lane

(M) ★★★½

Director: Dan Trachtenberg.

Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr.

"What do you mean 'tabletop gaming'? It's a goddamn boardgame!"

WHAT is this film?

Is it a sequel to the awesome 2008 found footage monster movie Cloverfield or not?

The answer is definitely maybe. Cloverfield’s writer Drew Goddard, director Matt Reeves, and producer JJ Abrams all serve as either producers or executive producers, and the film theoretically could be taking place in the same filmic universe. Abrams has also called 10 Cloverfield Lane a “blood relative” of Cloverfield.

However he has also described the new movie as merely a “spiritual successor”, while some of the makers have said there are connections to Cloverfield, but that the movie exists in a different filmic universe.

So, as previously stated, it’s definitely maybe a sequel. Or not.

But what is this film?

The trailers gave away little so we’ll keep this as spoiler-free as possible. The basic premise is that three people (played by Winstead, Goodman, and Gallagher Jr) are living in a well fitted-out bomb shelter. The hows and whys of them being there are the film’s raison d'être, as are the many further questions that come from the answers to those hows and whys.

Winstead is in every scene and does a great job. She’s our audience surrogate, but so much more – her character is plucky, brave and resourceful in between bouts of terror and the weird calms that come before the movie’s dramatic storms. Winstead handles all those highs and lows with aplomb.

Equally impressive is Goodman as Howard, the glue that holds the sheltered trio together. His turn is central to the film’s quirks and intricacies, and it’s one of his best performances outside a Coen Brothers movie.

It’s difficult to describe this film without giving anything away, but it runs the gamut of styles. It opens like an indie romance, swerves into Saw territory, settles into light comedy, adds large helpings of horror and sci-fi, and wraps the entire thing up in mystery. For the most part, this mixture works.

Its confined setting and story ramps up the claustrophobia and makes for an intriguing take on its subject matter that somehow suits this mish-mash of vibes. It unfolds in a solid way, letting the pacing ebb and flow, although it does leave many of its questions unanswered, which is largely a positive.

Unfortunately some twists feel like a stretch, keeping the film from being great instead of just good. However the biggest let-down is the whole Cloverfield connection. It’s unnecessary and potentially deliberately misleading – the fact the film started life as an unrelated script called The Cellar makes the whole Cloverfield thing a touch disingenuous.

But this compact little shocker is certainly fascinating and worth checking out, monster movie connections or no.

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The Big Short

(M) ★★★★

Director: Adam McKay.

Cast: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, John Magaro, Finn Wittrock, Hamish Linklater, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, Brad Pitt.

"Why is your hair so weird?"
"Why is your hair so weird?"

THE Global Financial Crisis was a mess – a catastrophic economic meltdown that left millions homeless and jobless across the US and rippled across the world sending entire nations to the wall.

Fittingly, the movie about how that all came to pass is also a mess, albeit a vivid, fast-paced and enjoyable one.

The Big Short is based on Michael Lewis’ novel detailing some of the people who profited from the US housing market bubble bursting (and triggering the GFC) by basically betting that such a thing would happen.

These were the clever cookies who could see the market was built on bad mortgages and fraudulent foundations and destined to collapse, despite everyone in Wall Street working on the assumption the market was too big to fail.

On paper, the story has limited appeal, as most people’s eyes tend to glaze over when they hear terms such as “subprime loans”, “credit default swaps”, and “collateralised debt obligations” – terms The Big Short is teeming with.

But director/co-writer McKay is all too aware of this and makes every effort to jazz up the subject matter wherever possible. Hence we have Margot Robbie in a bathtub drinking champagne as she explains subprime loans to camera, or Selena Gomez at a blackjack table demonstrating how synthetic CDOs work.

McKay throws everything at the screen – hence the mess analogy. The fourth wall is broken repeatedly, while stock footage-style montages pop-up in between quotes from Mark Twain and Haruki Murakami, onscreen diagrams, abrupt edits and a blend of documentary and filmic shooting techniques.

It could come off as desperation or style over substance, but Gosling’s narrator willingly tells us early on that this is boring subject matter that needs to be dressed up. The film runs with the gag, lightening the tone and making its dry topic palatable, no doubt leading to its Oscar win for best adapted screenplay. In some ways, The Big Short is like a flashier version of another Lewis adaptation Moneyball, which made another dull matter – baseball statistics – surprisingly interesting.

The script is accentuated by a couple of key players. Bale is great as real-life neurologist-turned-hedge fund manager Michael Burry, making the character’s eccentricities seem normal and resisting the urge to go full Rain Man.

But even better is Carell, who manages to make the unlikeable Mark Baum (based on real life hedge fund manager Steve Eisman) something close to likeable. It’s another well-rounded dramatic turn from Carell to go with his roles in Foxcatcher and Little Miss Sunshine.

There are good laughs to be had, mostly coming from Baum and his team of financial pessimists, and an oddly emotional moment that stands out because it’s the only one of its kind in the film.

This is the part of The Big Short that is somewhat lacking. While Carell’s Baum gives the film a surprising heart towards the end, it’s a bit “too little, too late”. It’s narrow focus also misses the wider ramifications of the GFC, although there is a nice moment when Brad Pitt’s character points out what has to happen to millions of lives for the main players to make their billions of dollars betting against the banks. A bit more heart might have gone a long way in this very cynical tale.

And, as mentioned, the film is a stylistic mess. As such, sometimes it goes too far, other times it doesn’t go far enough. Thankfully, for the most part it works, but it rides a tightrope a lot of the time.

If nothing else, this film now means McKay AKA the director of Anchorman and Step Brothers has an Oscar to his name. No one saw that coming.

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Spotlight

(M) ★★★★★

Director: Tom McCarthy.

Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, Brian d'Arcy James, Liev Schreiber, Billy Crudup.

"Maths? Everyone knows journalists can't do maths."

SINCE 1976, the benchmark for films about journalism has been All The President’s Men.

That tightly scripted drama used strong dialogue, a healthy sense of realism, and great performances – shunning flashiness, contrivances or gimmicks – to tell the true tale of how two reporters helped bring down a president.

Spotlight deserves to be uttered in the same breath as All The President’s Men. It is an equally taut, thrilling and authentic depiction of the press uncovering gross abuses of power.

In this case it is the Catholic Church’s cover-up of widespread child sex abuse in the Boston area, as investigated and uncovered by a team of reporters at the Boston Globe in 2002.

Centring on the paper’s “Spotlight” investigative unit of three journalists and an editor, the film follows their attempts to pull on the thread of one lawyer’s claims that the church had been systematically covering up the heinous deeds of one paedophile priest, unravelling a real-life scandal that not only shook the city and its Catholic community but also shone a light on the actions of priests and church officials across America.

It’s a story that unfortunately resonates around the world, particularly in Australia, where Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy’s own investigations helped trigger the ongoing royal commission into child sex abuse within the Catholic Church in this country.

Spotlight’s delivery does its subject matter justice. It’s a prime example of what some people may deride as a “people talking” movie, and as such it lives and dies by its cast and its dialogue, but there is nothing terminal here – just a gripping investigation that flourishes in the hands of its actors.

Ruffalo is the pick of the bunch, getting the best outburst in the script, but Keaton is not far behind as Spotlight department head Walter Robinson, a Boston native coming to terms with the malignant roots the Catholic Church has spread through his beloved city. An understated Schreiber is also good as incoming Globe editor Marty Baron, but there isn’t a bad turn to be found here – Oscar-nominated McAdams, Broadway regular James, and the always-brilliant Tucci are in fine form, while even the minor players are top-notch. Michael Cyril Creighton has a scene-stealing turn as an abuse survivor that is typical of the depth of talent on show here, but all are aided by a screenplay that creates well-rounded characters with ease.

Subtle direction from Tom McCarthy, matched by an equally subtle Howard Shore score, give the film a few necessary nudges, but Spotlight is a triumph of script, cast, and editing. The latter helps keep things ticking along, using the continual barriers and hurdles thrown in front of the journalists to help mount the tension, create surprises, and deliver an emotional punch at a slow-burning but satisfying pace.

Ultimately it succeeds because it puts the audience side-by-side with the reporters as they dig their way through a city that lives quite literally in the shadow of the Catholic Church, allowing us to share in the incredulity, disgust and frustration as the facts are presented. There is no need to dress anything up, and Spotlight largely works because it doesn’t try to do so.

Of the five Oscar nominees for best film that I’ve seen in the past 12 months, Spotlight is the most worthy winner.

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How To Be Single

(M) ★★½

Director: Christian Ditter.

Cast: Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Alison Brie, Leslie Mann, Nicholas Braun, Damon Wayans Jr., Jake Lacy, Anders Holm.

"You chug like a toddler!"

FOR a film to pass the Bechdel Test, it must feature just one thing – a conversation between two female characters about something other than a man.

The test started as a joke in a comic strip but has become a useful tool for analysing gender inequality in movies – roughly half of the features released by Hollywood fail the Bechdel Test.

Many films fail despite having plenty of good female characters because those women never have a conversation (like The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, for example), so the test certainly isn’t the be all and end all of analysing equality. ​How To Be Single would probably fail the test too, despite its four key players being female and targeting a female audience, because every conversation relates to men. It’s hard to say whether this showcases another shortcoming in the Bechdel Test, or whether it highlights something else that’s wrong with Hollywood. Or neither.

Either way, it’s an unfair test to apply to this particular film, seeing as how its raison d’etre (for better or worse) is exploring heterosexual singledom from the female perspective, and therefore every scene relates to one character or another assessing their very existence through the prism of either being a) with a man or b) without a man.

Central to this navel-gazing is Johnson’s Alice, who “consciously uncouples” from her boyfriend Josh (Braun) in an attempt to “find herself”, with the intention of getting back together again once she completes her mission.

Throwing herself into the solitary life, she gets to know partygirl Robyn (Wilson), moves in with her gynaecologist sister Meg (Mann), and shares a one-night stand with Tom (Holm), who is tentatively forming a friendship with Lucy (Brie).

Each has their own take on relationships. Meg is happy being alone, Lucy dedicates her life to finding her “soul mate”, and Tom and Robyn see being partner-free as an idyllic state that allows for endless conquests.

With its intersecting story threads, How To Be Single feels a bit like a 20-something version of the 30-something love exploration He’s Just Not That Into You (unsurprisingly, both films are based very loosely on books by Liz Tuccillo). But where He’s Just Not That Into You worked well with its ensemble cast, entertaining arcs, and multi-faceted look at relationships, How To Be Single feels stilted and episodic by comparison. So much focus on Alice’s story gives the other characters short shrift – you could cut all of Brie’s scenes and the movie would be punchier and more streamlined, through no fault of Brie’s, while Mann’s storyline is out-of-place and adds little.

It actually feels more like you’re binge-watching a TV show – some weird composite of Girls, New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, and probably some other show with “girl” in the title – on fast-forward, rather than sitting through a single feature-length movie.

The film works best when it’s picking apart rom-com clichés, which it does well, or when Wilson is in full flight. She makes the first half of the film her own with her brash humour, with Johnson a good foil in their straight woman/funny woman pairing.

But How To Be Single falls apart halfway through when its narrative suddenly leaps forward three months in a jarring move it never recovers from. Again, it’s only Wilson and Johnson that salvage it but even that is a struggle as their relationship is pushed to unnecessary limits as the movie collapses in a pile of awkward revelations and resolutions, with a baby thrown in for good measure.

At its best moments, the film is laugh-out-loud funny, with full points going to Wilson for saving the day. Its cast is likeable, particularly Johnson, but How To Be Single has nothing meaningful to say. Ultimately its enjoyable enough, but flimsily pieced together and largely disposable.

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Deadpool

(MA15+) ★★★★

Director: Tim Miller.

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić.

"Oh my God is that Thor making out with Iron Man?"

ANOTHER week, another superhero movie.

It certainly feels that way, and many are wondering if we’ve hit ‘peak cape’ and how much more milk can be drained from this box office cash cow before audiences start yawning at the sight of another hyper-powered origin story or heroic team-up to save the galaxy.

The comic book well is unfathomably deep – the Marvel and DC archives go back to the 1930s, plus there are any number of other graphic novel houses (Dark Horse, Image, and IDW to name but three) with equally worthy catalogues to adapt. So how does Hollywood avoid inflicting superhero fatigue on movie-goers?

The answer potentially lies in finding new ways to tell these increasingly similar-seeming stories. Which brings us to Deadpool, a superhero movie that strives to be different (and succeeds) in many blood-soaked and swear-littered ways.

If you’ve never heard of Deadpool, there’s a good reason. He’s not an A-list comic book character like Spider-man or Batman, and he hasn’t been around as long as the likes of Superman or even Wolverine. He’s a cult favourite from the Marvel stable, which means that if you have heard of Deadpool, you are super-excited about this movie (and the good news is you won’t be disappointed).

Created in 1991, a bastardised version of Deadpool popped up in the 2009 film Wolverine: Origins, where he was played by Reynolds. But that take on the character was largely derided as an insult to comic book fans. Reynolds, to his credit, kept pursuing a “proper” Deadpool film and when test footage for such a movie was leaked in 2014, the fans went nuts (in a good way). The studio finally greenlit the project and here we are.

The result is exactly what fans wanted. Deadpool is known as The Merc With The Mouth, renowned for his curse-riddled and violence-heavy approach to dealing with baddies, with his signature trait being a predilection for breaking the fourth wall – he’s the comic book character that knows he’s a comic book character.

This film version brings all that to life perfectly, with Reynolds lapping up the dirty jokes and the writers laying the in-jokes on thick.

Reynolds is the key to it all. Not only did he help get the movie into production, he relishes the opportunity to bring Marvel’s most inappropriate superhero to life in true-to-source fashion. This is Reynolds in Van Wilder mode, taking regular potshots at the Wolverine: Origins version of the character, his own good looks, and his other comic book misfire Green Lantern.

By making a Deadpool film the Deadpool fans really want to see, the movie is deliberately niche, which is refreshing in a lot of ways. There is no broad popcorn appeal here and compared to the bloodless violence and PG glee of Marvel Studio’s heavy-hitters, this is a wonderfully puerile claret-soaked swear-fest. It’s also bloody hilarious and hands down the funniest superhero movie ever.

But it’s not going to attract a big audience. It’s a cult classic in waiting, destined to be seen as the black sheep of the X-Men family (this movie exists – somehow –  in the increasingly convoluted mutant movie series). Many of the gags are tailored to a very specific audience and are as “meta” as possible – when X-Men member Colossus threatens to take Deadpool to see Professor X, the mercenary quips “McEvoy or Stewart?”.

The movie is not without its flaws. The lead character’s back story is weaved throughout a protracted highway shoot-out/set-piece in a slightly cumbersome fashion for about an hour, although it does give Reynolds the opportunity to break the fourth wall with regular hilarity.

The plot would also fail any kind of forensic examination, which is a shame – it would have been nice if the writers had put as much thought into the story as they did the huge number of inventive cusses and insults.

But the movie is a winner because it achieves what it sets out to do, and that is to be the ideal Deadpool movie for the character’s fans. It may be at the expense of winning over a broader audience – and you can knock a star or two off this review if you count yourself in that category – but for the rest of us, this swear-tastic super-outing is exactly what we’ve been waiting for.

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