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Moana is another winning animated feature from Disney!

12/27/2016

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Moana - Screen Fantastique film review

Reviewed by: Mark Geraghty
Review date: December 1, 2016

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​Moana won't rate as an outright Disney classic, but it’s a fun, family-friendly affair that maintains the studio’s long-run of successful animated feature films. Moana continues the recent Disney trend in telling the story of a young female heroine in search of greater meaning in life. On paper it sounds quite profound, but up on the screen, the story unfolds in a fashion that prevents the film from becoming top-heavy with the existential burdens of human existence. It has its serious moments, but the people at Disney know better than to dwell on the downside of life for too long!
​The film starts with a prologue, explaining how an Island God named Maui, who stole the pounamu stone from the Goddess Te Fiti, was banished for his reckless action and brought ongoing suffering humans as a pestilence spread from island to island. The story cuts to Moana as a little girl on her island home and her desire to voyage out onto the ocean. Her father, Chief Tui (voiced by Temura Morrsion) has other ideas. He wants his daughter to learn the ways of her people so she can take her rightful place as the next Chief of the tribe. Unbeknownst to him, the Ocean itself has chosen his daughter to be the one who makes amends for the strife that the God Maui has caused for so many of the island people. A few years later, when the scourge that has destroyed island after island finally makes its way to Moana’s island, she must take a stand against her father and go in search of Maui. Now a young woman, Moana (voiced by Auli’i Cravalho), with the help of her Gramma Talu (voiced by Rachel House) embarks on her quest to save her island and her people!
​The real highlight of Moana is Dwayne Johnson’s vocal performance as Maui, a God who possesses an extremely inflated sense of his own importance. This is highlighted in Johnson’s introductory song, “You’re Welcome”, where he educates Moana about all the fantastic things he has done for humans! Johnson is no Robin Williams, but he adopts a similar approach the great late comic did with the Genie in Aladdin, ramping up the character’s energy so that everything he does is huge; much like the man himself. Moana also gets a huge boost from Jermaine Clement’s crazy performance as the Undersea deity Tamalou. Clement goes all-out with his musical number and, while it’s hard to make out some of the songs lyrics, the music matched to the animation makes for the film’s most visually dynamic sequence.
​It’s more than just Johnson’s vocal performance where Moana bares a similarity to Aladdin and it's no surprise that Big Hero 6 Directors Dan Hall and Chris Williams were teamed up with Aladdin directing veterans Ron Clement's and John Musker for Moana. Disney-philes will recall that Clements & Musker were part of the 1990s Disney animation resurgence that reinvigorated the studio and, arguably, provided the platform for the behemoth it has become on the current entertainment landscape. Combining similar elements from those 1990s films, such as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid, Moana is entertaining fare. While Johnson and Clement get the most memorable musical numbers, young Cravalho carries the film’s musical themes for the majority of its 107 minute running time. Moana uses the talents of three different individuals to deliver the Pacific Island sound the film delivers. Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina wrote a number of the songs both separately and together, while Macina delivered the score. Lin-Manuel Miranda write the lyrics to go with the songs. Moana keeps the Disney animation hot streak going. The film will appeal as much to adults as it does to children. Dwayne Johnson is hard to resist as Maui, but he’s well supported throughout by likes of Cravalho, Clement and Morrison, helping to deliver yet another winning film from the Mouse House!
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Is Woody Allen's Cafe Society a sweet success or a bitter brew?

10/18/2016

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Cafe Society - Screen Fantastique film review

Reviewed by: Mark Geraghty
Review date: October 18, 2016

Screen Fantastique rating: 3 stars
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Woody Allen’s Cafe Society effect on the viewer can be summed up much like its lead characters; enthusiastic to start but, ultimately, less interesting the longer the relationship goes on. The film is not a complete misfire, but the moral ambiguity that works its way into the lead character’s motivations in the film’s second half makes Cafe Society one of Allen’s less appealing recent efforts. (For those looking for a comparison, it’s on par with last year's Irrational Man.) It’s fair to suggest that Allen believes that he’s simply holding a mirror to anybody and everybody, and that people find themselves conflicted about past loves. In his world this may be true, but for those not familiar with the predicament of Jesse Eisenberg’s Bobby and Kristen Stewart’s Vonnie, there’s little to relate to and the ponderous contemplation of “what could have been” sucks the energy from Cafe Society’s second half.
Allen opts to set Cafe Society in 1930s Hollywood and New York, populating his story with larger-than-life Hollywood players and New York gangsters. Against this background of glitzy artifice, Allen thrusts Bobby, a young Jewish boy from the Bronx who heads to Hollywood looking for an opportunity with his successful Uncle Phil (Steve Carrell), a major talent Agent. The story skips along at great pace early on, matching the wincing, blinking, toe-tapping energy of Bobby as he persists in getting an audience with Uncle in an effort to crack the big time! The film's best exchange takes place early on, as Bobby’s Jewish guilt crashes into his need for a good shagging with a “working girl”. The story turns toward a more straight forward romance with the introduction of Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), with whom Bobby literally falls in love with at first sight. There’s an initial feeling that Cafe Society could be something special, but, as it turns out, Stewart’s first scenes are her best. Neither Stewart nor Eisenberg sustain their performances and he ends up looking like a cad and she ends up looking like a trouble maker.
While Woody Allen films aren’t generally feted for their technical achievements, Cafe Society sees the collaboration between Allen and award-winning Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. The Italian had drifted from the American film scene and had not worked on a Hollywood feature film since 2005, when he photographed Paul Schrader’s largely forgettable Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. While Allen’s films could never be described as being “Hollywood”, Storaro’s re-entry onto the American film scene is welcome and Cafe Society is one of Allen’s best looking films. The film’s Art Direction, Set Decoration and Costume Departments are all worthy of mention, as Cafe Society relies on all of these elements to help sell the story and they all pass with flying colours. Long-time Allen collaborator Production Designer Santo Loquasto does a great job of bringing all of the production elements together, but, ultimately, none of them can counter the fact that neither Bobby or Vonnie are especially likable. Allen relies too much on the emotional weakness they have for each other and, not the first time, leaves the viewer with a feeling of contempt for both as others around them become victims of a romance that never seemed quite right in the first place.

Cafe Society is in cinemas around Australia from October 19, 2016.
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Find out if this train ride's worth the ticket...

10/8/2016

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The Girl on the Train - Screen Fantastique film review

Reviewed by: Mark Geraghty
Review date: October 6, 2016

Screen Fantastique rating: 3 stars
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​The Girl on the Train has pulled into cinemas, delivering an adaptation of the namesake novel that successfully entertains but doesn’t really do much to inform. For the unaware, Tate Taylor’s film is based on the hugely successful 2015 novel by Paula Hawkins. To suggest that Hawkins’ novel rode on the coattails of public interest surrounding Gillian Flynn’s similar Gone Girl may be an over-stretch, but there’s no doubt, the two stories share a tone that flows into their feature film off-shoots. Where Gone Girl benefited from the superior talent of David Fincher, The Girl on the Train is more workmanlike in approach and Taylor is still early in his directing career and is not in the same league as Fincher. That said, The Girl on the Train benefits from a strong cast; headlined by Emily Blunt, whose character Rachel, is not so much a girl on a train, but a trashy, tragic figure whose descent into alcoholism stems from the pain of her failed marriage.
​The story is relatively slow moving, opening with Haley Bennett’s Megan recounting her relationship issues with her therapist, Dr. Kamal Abdic, played by Edgar Ramirez. Megan tells the Doctor of how she struggles in her job as a nanny and can’t wait to get home to wash the smell of the child from her. The viewer becomes part of Megan’s story, partaking in the child’s care and meeting the child’s somewhat distant mother, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson). Megan’s decision to quit her job as a nanny shifts the focus of the story to Anna and her husband Tom (Justin Theroux), who seems a much more down-to-earth and easy-going fellow than his somewhat uptight wife. Anna’s behaviour is in reaction to the ongoing distraction of Tom’s ex-wife Rachel (Blunt), whose unpredictability has thrown Anna’s life into turmoil; so it would seem. Rachel is battling alcoholism and her disturbing behaviour is carefully deconstructed throughout the course of the film’s 112 minute running time to ensure the Final Act can play out in a satisfying fashion. However, before all of that, the viewer learns that Anna and Tom had an affair when Tom was still married to Rachel, so Rachel has some justification for being pissed about what has transpired over the last two years of her life.
​While Erin Cressida Wilson’s screenplay adaptation of Hawkins’ novel takes some liberties with location (moving the story from London to New York), the core of the narrative remains. She and Taylor choose to focus primarily on Rachel’s fractured point-of-view of events,  jumping back and forth in time to reveal events that have led Rachel, Anna and Megan’s paths to cross. There’s more than a fair dash of contrivance that has gone into The Girl on the Train to make the plot fit the narrative. Viewers who prod at the story hard enough after walking out of the cinema will suddenly find themselves questioning the how and when certain events could have taken place. There’s a distinct benefit in NOT trying to deconstruct the story after the credits have rolled and simply remain immersed in the film based on what the Director and his talented cast have presented. To do otherwise will result in a real-life clarity that equals the fictional epiphany Emily Blunt’s titular “Girl” undergoes in this engrossing, slightly above-average psychodrama.

The Girl on the Train is in cinemas now.

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Pete's Dragon doesn't fly like it should...

9/15/2016

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Pete's Dragon - Screen Fantastique film review

Reviewed by: Mark Geraghty
​Review date: September 13, 2016

Screen Fantastique rating: 3 stars
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Pete’s Dragon, the latest Disney animated classic to undergo a live-action transformation, fails to make the impact that might be expected from a film whose central character is a 60 foot dragon. At some point Disney was going to have an off-day with its ongoing series of live-action adaptations of their back catalogue of hand-drawn treasures and, unfortunately, Director David Lowery has been the person to deliver the studio its first sub-par adaptation effort. What brings the problems of Pete’s Dragon into such sharp focus is the comparison that audiences are in a position to make with this year’s other Disney adaptation, the worldwide blockbuster The Jungle Book. At the centre of the film’s problems are the film’s adult characters; all of whom appear badly miscast in their respective roles.

The one character who feels right is young Pete, played by Oakes Fegley. Director Lowery, who also co-wrote the screenplay with writing partner Toby Halbrooks, wastes little time in getting his young star into the action, as the necessary exposition required to establish the relationship between Pete and his dragon, Elliot, is done and dusted in the film’s opening sequence. The story jumps forward six years, with Pete and Elliot entrenched in their friendship where the big green dragon also acts as the boy’s guardian and protector against the forest’s more ominous predators. It’s not too long before Pete and Elliot’s life is disrupted in more than one way. Lowery and Halbrooks don't miss the opportunity to make an on-the-nose comment about deforestation and its impact on ecology. Their effort to service this concept is where much of the film’s confusion arises about the motivation key adult characters and the feeling that many of them have been miscast.
Bryce Dallas Howard plays Grace, a local Ranger, whose job it is to protect the forest. She’s in a long-term relationship with Wes Bentley’s Jack, who also happens to own the local logging company. Karl Urban plays Jack’s brother Gavin, who is more than happy to throw himself wholeheartedly into the family business of lopping down as many trees as he can. Loitering in the background is Grace’s father, Meacham, played by Robert Redford; the only other person to have seen Elliot but is written off by most as a crazy old man. Each one of these actors is fundamentally miscast in their role. Howard is meant to be a surrogate mother to Fegley’s Pete but seems limp and disconnected from him in their scenes together. Wes Bentley, as he is in most of his roles, plays his role with minimal emotional range. He struggles to break even a frown when his young daughter Natalie (Oona Laurence) comes under physical threat toward the end of the film. Robert Redford is basically playing a slightly crazier version of himself and feels the least miscast, but simply isn't convincing as the town crank. It hurts to say it, but the worst of this bunch is Karl Urban. For the past decade, the Kiwi actor has built his resume and he’s now a name actor with significant credits, including his excellent turn as ‘Bones’ McCoy in the last three Star Trek movies. He's a really good actor; a funny guy in real life, but in Pete’s Dragon he’s just plain bad. He’s a one-note prat whose stupidity isn't convincing enough to be the catalyst for the jeopardy in which everyone finds themselves during the film's climax!
There is some redemption in the spectacle of Elliot; the film’s CGI star, but it's little consolation. The technical execution is flawless, but even Elliot feels a little soulless. Much of his interaction with Pete mimics that of a loyal pooch and it doesn't give the audience a sense for the majority of the film that he's actually a dragon. Only near the very end of the film does he reveal the full extent of what he can do, but it’s a case of too little too late. By this stage, the chance to weave an emotional tale, with touches of magic, has been missed as the overly contrived and utterly predictable story has sputtered to its conclusion with the obligatory happy ending tacked on in the hope of another outing at some stage in the future. There be a dragon here, but not else…

Pete’s Dragon is out in cinemas around the country in September 16, 2016

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Kubo and the Two Strings weaves its magic in more ways than one...

8/17/2016

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Kubo and the Two Strings - Screen Fantastique film review

Reviewed by: Mark Geraghty
Review date: August 17, 2016

Screen Fantastique rating: 4 stars
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Kubo and the Two Strings is a magical movie experience in both the literal and figurative sense. Described as a Stop-motion animation adventure about Samurai, Kubo is a film that the whole family can see and get something from it. For the kids, there’s the obvious appeal of young Kubo (Art Parkinson) and his magical storytelling skills that bring to life sheet after sheet of paper in the most elaborate origami creations that have a life of their own. For parents, Kubo is a little deeper, as Director Travis Knight and the crew at Stop-motion specialists Liaka, explore the theme of sacrifice and how far Mothers and Fathers are prepared to go in order to protect their children. Kubo is wonderful all round entertainment and offers something very different to the broader CG animated feature films audiences are used to seeing released these days.
Kubo features a number of elaborate set-pieces including its opening prologue, introducing an infant Kubo and his Mother (voiced by Charlize Atherton), who are fleeing an unseen assailant on a small skiff. The baby Kubo is missing his left eye, an injury inflicted upon him by his evil Grandfather, Moon King, a magical God who needs both of the infant’s eyes to see all that is happening on Earth. Mother and son are thrown into the ocean but end up on land soon after. Kubo’s Mother sustains a head injury that renders her unable to access many of her memories. Several years pass and Kubo grows into a reliable young boy who's become his Mother’s carer and provides for them both with elaborate storytelling sessions in the village that sits at the base of the mountain hideaway. It's a credit, for such a young man, that Art Parkinson’s vocal performance is so strong. He owns Kubo completely and he fills the opening sequences of the movie with great enthusiasm as he recounts the story of the great warrior - Hanso - to the villagers.
The film kicks into high gear when the young man fails to return to the mountain and his Mother as darkness falls one evening. Stranded away from his magic-protected home, Kubo’s two aunties reveal themselves and declare that they have become on behalf of Moon King to claim his other eye. The young boy races as fast as he can but only makes it as far as the base of the mountain before he is caught. Fortunately, Kubo’s Mother has made her way off the mountain and is able to deter her siblings from pursuing her son. She blasts her sisters with magic that results in Kubo being transported far away, waking up in the presence of Monkey, a small wooden idol who has been transformed into a real-life creature created by Kubo’s Mother’s powerful magic. The pair set off upon a journey to locate three items that will give whoever possesses them power over both The magical and the real world. The quest sees them joined by a cockroach-looking warrior Beetle (Matthew McConaughey), who claims to have served Kubo's Samurai father, while the trio are guided on their journey by an origami version of Hanso.
Not only is Kubo well written, well acted and well produced, it is a highly imaginative movie that seeks to tell its story by way of astounding visuals. Even more impressive is the Stop-motion animation process used to create the film. The character’s actions are so smooth that it's hard to believe, despite all the videos available documenting the film's making, that it’s not CG. Kubo and the Two Strings is definitely worth a trip to the cinema to see and highly recommended that viewers invest the additional few dollars to see the film in 3D.

Kubo and the Two Strings is out in cinemas on August 18, 2016.
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Kevin Hart & Dwayne Johnson prove to be a most successful (however unlikely) comic pairing in Central Intelligence...

6/23/2016

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​Central Intelligence - Screen Fantastique film review
By Mark Geraghty    June 22, 2016

The unlikely duo of Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson pair up in Central Intelligence; delivering a film that is far funnier than what audiences may expect of such an unusual pairing. Central Intelligence is the brainchild of Ike Barinholtz (better known for his acting, despite a solid resume of writing credits) and David Stassen; the pair having worked together most recently on The Mindy Project. Rawson Marshall Thurber, Director of Dodgeball and We’re The Millers, was in charge of the bringing Central Intelligence to the screen and does an excellent job of allowing his talent to do what they do best. In Hart’s case, it’s the 21st Century equivalent of the Eddie Murphy “Motor Mouth” routine that provided some of the 1980s best Action-Comedy films. (In fairness to Murphy, Hart’s is not nearly as well developed with impersonation and wry commentary, but he brings a lot of natural energy.) Johnson has already shown, through extensive resume of mixed-genre movie roles that he has a reasonable understanding of comic timing and the control he has of his well-muscled body allows him to deliver physical comedy unlike anybody else going around.

The film kicks off with a prologue that takes the audience back to 1996. Robbie Whycliffe, an upbeat but naive black kid (a CGI version of an overweight, teenage Dwayne Johnson) is taking a shower in the boy’s locker room. Unbeknown to him, a group of classmates are about to pull a cruel prank that will shape the young kid’s life. In the school gymnasium, the Senior Year are celebrating the end of High School, led by an impromptu valedictory speech by all-round favourite guy, Calvin Joyner (a slightly less made-over CGI version of a teenage Kevin Hart, by comparison to Johnson…) Joyner’s speech is interrupted by Robbie’s tormentors throwing him buck-naked onto the gymnasium hall floor in front of a packed house of students and staff. Joyner, being the good guy he is, rushes to Whycliffe, handing him his Letterman jacket to cover himself. Before he disappears, Robbie, despite his absolute humiliation, still manages to mouth a “Thank You” to Calvin. The story jumps forward to the present day and the eve of Joyner’s 20 year High School reunion, an event he’s not especially looking forward to. Despite having married his High School sweetheart Maggie (Danielle Nicolet) and forged a career as a Forensic Accountant, Calvin feels as though he hasn’t fulfilled the potential everyone thought he would. The prospect of being confronted with classmate’s questions about “what are you up to these days?” is too much for him to bare. In the midst of his funk, Joyner receives a Facebook request from “Bob Stone”, a Senior from Joyner’s year. Upon meeting up with Stone, Calvin is shocked to find that it’s actually Robbie Whycliffe and he’s a changed man in every sense of the expression.

Central Intelligence is not the cleverest or the most poignant comedy that has ever graced cinema screens, but it has energy, thanks to the pairing of Hart and Johnson. The film takes the right amount of time to get to the point where the duo are paired up, and their “mission” doesn’t drag on for so long that there’s not enough time at the end to provide an epilogue that satisfactorily rounds out the events that occur in the film’s opening scenes. Johnson’s physical presence literally takes over the last part of the film that involves an unexpected cameo and provides a sequence of extremely funny out-takes over the top of the end credits. It’s hard to classify the film as an Action-Comedy or a Comedy-Action, as there’s almost an equal amount of both and the leads are called upon to step-up and deliver on all fronts. In today’s franchise-driven cinematic output, it’s nice to get a film that doesn’t deliberately use its “parts” to feed into something greater than the immediate story it’s trying to tell. Central Intelligence is a simple story, but executes it extremely well and, in the process, has brought together a great lead pair who audiences would be happy to see how their further adventures play out!

Central Intelligence is out in cinemas on June 23, 2016.

Let us know what you though about the film by posting a comment.
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Is Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo, a deep dive or just a splash in the ocean?

6/14/2016

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Finding Dory - Screen Fantastique film review
By Mark Geraghty     June 14, 2016

There’s a wonderful whimsy about Finding Dory that allows Pixar Animation’s latest film to make us fall in love, all over again, with characters that we haven’t seen or heard from for over thirteen years. Yes, that’s correct… It’s been thirteen years since audiences first met Nemo, Marlin and the ever-forgetful, but always loveable Dory. The new film certainly proves that animation, unlike its live-action counterpart, has no problem picking up a story where it was last left; irrespective of what has happened in the intervening years. Make no mistake though, Finding Dory is not just a sequel; it’s an expansion of the theme and narrative that carried the original film to both critical and box office success.
There’s really no need to elaborate too much about the film’s plot. Andrew Stanton, Finding Nemo’s driving force, is back and teamed-up with Pixar veteran Bob Peterson, coming off the challenges he had with The Good Dinosaur, and newcomer Victoria Strouse to develop the story. Stanton also brought in Angus MacLane, a senior animator at the studio, to co-direct the new film, while tackling the screenplay himself. As one the original Pixar team, Stanton knows how to bring a story to life and, despite its conventional structure and plot, Finding Dory has a lot of heart and gleefully revels in the slapstick it creates throughout its Second and Third Acts. Stanton leaves his audience in little doubt as to what he’s going for as his natatory cast of characters pay respectful heed to the musings of “Sigourney Weaver”, the omnipresent voice of the Monterey Marine Life Institute.
Where Finding Dory really strikes gold is the vocal cast. Both Ellen DeGeneres (Dory) and Albert Brooks (Marlin) return from the original and, while they sound a little older, it’s not a big issue. The same can’t be said for Nemo. Unfortunately, Alexander Gould, Nemo in the original, was way too old to pick up the character, so young Hayden Rolence takes over vocal duties for this new adventure. (Not that Gould was forgotten; he makes a vocal cameo in the new film…) The supporting vocal talent in Finding Dory is phenomenal. Sigourney Weaver aside, the cast features Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Idris Elba, Dominic West and Bill Hader. (For true Pixar fans, yes, John Ratzenberger gets a gig in the new film.) Of all the new characters, Ed O’Neill’s Hank, an ill-tempered Octopus, whose missing tentacle has Dory referring to him as a “Septopus”, single-tentacaledly (Is that even a word?) steals the movie. His various camouflage techniques are a constant source of visual amusement, but his role as a reluctant saviour provides a great foil for Dory’s Peter Sellers Inspector Clouseau-like investigation to find her parents.
Like all Pixar films, all members of the family will find something to enjoy about Finding Dory. It’s not a true classic in the way that Up, Wall-E or the Toy Story trilogy are, but it’s clever, funny and it works incredibly hard to make sure the audience remain connected to the story no matter how ridiculous things seem to be getting. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the film’s climax. Not to give anything away, but the comic irony at play between the visuals and the musical score at a critical moment in the story is the funniest sequence that Pixar has ever committed to film and is a true laugh-out-loud moment that will be fondly recalled well after the cinema lights have come up. Finding Dory is a charming, well-intended film. It has a great underlying perspective about society’s acceptance of some serious issues, such as dementia, abandonment and animal welfare. Yet, like its aquatic setting, it has a buoyancy that will have movie-goers leaving the cinema feeling upbeat and asking themselves, “What would Dory do?”

Finding Dory is in Australian cinemas from June 16, 2016.

Once you've seen Finding Dory, let us know what you think by leaving a comment.
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Does Star Trek Beyond have the worst marketing of any “Blockbuster” movie this year?

4/13/2016

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What is going on with the marketing campaign for the release of Star Trek Beyond? Not a lot is the obvious answer, but with a little over three months until the film’s release Star Trek fans could be forgiven for wondering what’s happened to the movie that is supposed to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the enduring science fiction franchise in all its glory.
In December 2015, Paramount Pictures, the franchise film rights owner, dropped a trailer on an unsuspecting audience and it was well & truly met by the haters; armed and ready with their keyboards - phasers locked on obliterate! It seems the replay of the Beastie Boys track ‘Sabotage’ was a bridge too far for too many. Given the track had already been heard in the J.J. Abrams 2009 reboot film, there appeared a slight sense of desperation on the part of the Paramount ad agency; almost hoping that lightning could strike twice if they wished hard enough.
The only part of the Star Trek Beyond trailer that got a universal thumbs-up was the brief scene between Karl Urban’s McCoy and Zachary Quinto’s Spock, where the Vulcan is beamed away just as good Doctor utters “at least I won't die alone…” Famous last words. The trailer has its problems, there’s no doubt about that. For a start, it fails to acknowledge the 50th Anniversary in any way shape or form. That is a mistake. In a year when the franchise should be celebrating, the trailer goes for the action angle; confirming fans fears that previous remarks attributed to Paramount executives, who were believed to have wanted a Guardians of the Galaxy tone to Star Trek Beyond, were indeed accurate.
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A problematic trailer is, after all, just a problematic trailer. There’s no shame in pitching the film as an action adventure story, but there’s no need to try and hide from the fact the movie has Star Trek in the title. Paramount have, quite literally, made billions of dollars of income off Star Trek. That doesn't happen because the brand and what it represents are flawed. You don't need to make Star Trek GotG; Kirk, Spock and McCoy were the guardians of the galaxy before it became cool to save the universe! Leaning on the old saying, the best form of defence is attack, the best way to quell the disquiet would have been to get a second trailer into the market quickly. Did this happen? No.
In light of the negative sentiment that took hold after the trailer debuted, it has felt like Paramount have simply given up trying to sell Star Trek Beyond. There has been one meaningful TV segment with Chris Pine, who plays Captain Kirk, going behind the scenes with Access Hollywood movie critic Scott Mantz. There was the short-lived Omaze campaign that seemed to finish before it even got started. Entertainment Tonight have done a couple of puff-pieces about uniforms and weapons, but nothing that actually tells people what the hell this film is about!
In more recent times, stories have surfaced that the film was undertaking additional filming. This in itself is not uncommon. Most big-budget movies do that these days, as the editing process helps define the finished product, sometimes producers decide they need more or different footage to deliver the best possible film. Marvel, for example, actually budget for additional photography and most franchise actors have it written into their contracts that they must be available for them.
What is interesting with Star Trek Beyond was the timing and language of the stories associated with what was happening. With sixteen weeks to release, the film is undergoing reshoots. Not additional photography; reshoots. The term reshoots sends a whole different message and it's not necessarily a good one. This is but one example of how Paramount are doing a terrible job of marketing this film. Why allow a story about “reshoots” to perpetuate? The reality probably is that Star Trek Beyond is, indeed, undertaking additional photography (to capture new material to make the film better). If that’s the case, get a good news story out there that tells people that Director Justin Lin has finished his edit, but, because everyone wants this film to be awesome, Paramount and Skydance (the film's financier) have agreed to put more money into the project! There’s no better way to get the fans on side than to say “Hey, we really appreciate your support. We want to make the 50th Anniversary great. We think our movie’s great, but we want to make it really great!”
Maybe I'm expecting too much. I see a lot of films and I watch as franchise movies jockey for audience attention. These days that starts with the film’s pre-production. Ryan Reynolds understood this in trying to get Deadpool made. It took him six years, but boy has the effort paid off. Reynolds, along with the 20th Century Fox marketing people, pushed the boundaries with the character, putting him in all kinds of unlikely scenarios across all different forms of media. He raised the profile of Deadpool to everyday pop culture, transcending the character’s core comic book fan base, and created an audience who were clamouring to see what two hours of big screen entertainment with him might turn out like. As it stands, Deadpool’s worldwide cumulative box office will finish just south of $800 million. Not bad for a film that cost $55 million to make. Putting that into perspective, Batman V Superman cost $250 million to make and will finish north of $900 million, but probably less than the vaunted $1 billion barrier. Reynolds made people want to see Deadpool. Nothing I’ve seen about Star Trek Beyond actually makes me want to see it.
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Without sounding like I'm on a bandwagon, Star Trek Beyond shouldn't be worrying about whether or not creatively emulating a film like Guardians of the Galaxy. It has its own formula that has endured for 50 years. What it needs to find quickly is a marketing plan that makes audiences want to connect with the film, its story, its characters and the legacy it’s intended to celebrate. As it stands currently, Star Trek Beyond will come and go like so many other big, brash, action films; a largely forgettable affair that audiences didn’t connect with because everyone inside the tent forgot to tell movie-goers what it was about. For goodness sake, at least give us another trailer...

For more information about Star Trek Beyond, go to the Screen Fantastique webpage:

http://www.screenfantastique.com/star-trek-beyond-2016.html
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ZOOTOPIA film review

3/21/2016

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ZOOTOPIA is yet another great animated feature film from Disney Studios. Since the team from Pixar began working with their Disney colleagues, after the former’s acquisition by the Mouse House, the standard of films coming out of LA-based animation team has been of a consistently high standard and is now challenging their Northern Californian brethren. There's little doubt the positive influence of Pixar’s John Lasseter and Ed Catmull has rubbed off on the Disney team, as Director Byron Howard, along with Co-Directors Rich Moore & Jared Bush, make the film all about character and story. ZOOTOPIA is a shining example of a simple story told extremely well, a great array of interesting & funny characters and an extremely high standard animation that is as much about heart & soul as it is technical excellence.
Like many animated movies, ZOOTOPIA is a coming-of-age story. This one is about Judy Hopps, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, a bunny who isn't prepared to take no for an answer, even if it means putting herself in harm’s way for the sake of upholding her closely-protected values of equality for all animals; big and small. After an altercation with a fox at a young age in the film’s prologue, young Judy decides to to join the Zootopia Police Force, believing she can make a difference to the world. Her dream comes  back to Earth with a thud when her new boss Chief Bogo (voiced by Idris Elba) decides that her talents would be best put to use handing out parking tickets. Undeterred, the ever-eager Judy takes the task in her stride and sets a new record for writing tickets! While out on her ticket-writing rounds, she encounters a fox , Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman), who tricks her into believing that he and his “son” are just trying to get an ice cream. Judy discovers that it’s part of an elaborate scam by Nick and his cohort, designed to con unsuspecting Lemmings into spending their hard-earned money on recycled treats. Dejected by the turn of events, the next day Judy tries to convince Bogo she can do more; after all she graduated top of her class at the Police Academy. Their conversation is interrupted by a hysterical female badger, Mrs.Otterton (voiced by Octavia Spencer), who tells them her husband has disappeared for no good reason. Judy tells Mrs.Otterton she'll solve the case. Chief Bogo, enraged by her disregard for his orders, tells her that she’s fired! Fortunately for Judy, new Deputy Mayor Bellwether, a lamb (voiced by Jenny Slate), is told by Mrs.Otterton that Judy is on the case. The Deputy Mayor is ecstatic, as she tells Bogo that they Mayor will be thrilled to hear the news of such affirmative action on the Zootopia Police Force!
What could have degenerated into a slapstick adventure actually gets better from the time Judy starts the investigation for the missing Mr.Otterton. Despite the Deputy Mayor’s support of Judy, Chief Bogo insists that  she’s only got 48 hours to find him otherwise she’s still fired. Judy - using her smarts - decides the best way to track the badger down is to enlist Nick Wilde, whose street-wise experience she believes will help her get the information she needs faster. The pairing of Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman’s  vocal talents is a winning combination and the various set-pieces they go through make the film’s Second Act an absolute delight to watch. The story is also laced with good-natured humour all the way through and there’s an especially funny sequence between the heroes and a Sloth named Flash (voiced by Raymond S. Persi), who happens to work for the Department of Motor Vehicles; an irony that is bound to make anyone who has ever had to undertake any driver-related administrative enquiries laugh in a way that is truly an acknowledgment of art imitating life! ZOOTOPIA’s finale plays out with some twists and turns, but, follow the story closely, and the reveal toward the film’s end won't come as a surprise. The screenplay, by BIG HERO 6 writer Jared Bush and WRECK-IT-RALPH scribe Phil Johnston, is a winner, as it caters to both young and old audience members. As much as the destination is an important part of a satisfying conclusion, there’s as much joy to be taken in (the bunny’s) journey and the wonderful array of characters she comes across in her adventure.

​ZOOTOPIA is out now in cinemas everywhere!
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Not quite Fantastique ... The Coen Brothers' HAIL, CAESAR!

2/29/2016

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The brotherly film-making duo of Joel and Ethan Coen return with their 17th full-length feature film; one that pays homage to a lifetime of their chosen endeavour. HAIL, CAESAR! is the Coens’ take on the Hollywood studio system of old, where names like Warner and Goldwyn were the men who owned the studio, not just company names. The Coens take the opportunity to delve into the golden age of movie making and pull the veil back on an era that was - at one time - almost mythical in its status as the pre-eminent period of film production in America. HAIL, CAESAR! is entertaining for the most part, but a choppy Third Act results in a limited pay-off for the audience, with the Coens opting for a true “Hollywood” ending; where the outcome doesn’t quite match the journey.
Josh Brolin is the film’s central character, Eddie Mannix. Mannix is the Head of Physical Production at the fictional Capitol Studios in Hollywood. It’s Eddie’s job to make sure that the “kooks” and “oddballs” that make up the Capitol Studios talent roster are kept on the straight and narrow so “The Studio” can keep cranking out hit movies. One-part Manager, one-part Soothsayer and one-part Strong-armer, Eddie’s job is complicated and sees him prowling the streets of Hollywood at all hours to make sure Capitol Studios are kept out of the tabloid headlines. Eddie, however, is having a crisis of faith. He’s not so sure he wants to be part of the madness anymore and is seriously entertaining a job offer from the folks at aircraft manufacturer Lockheed.
The Coens structure their story like “A day in the life of…”, following Mannix from 4 am in the morning through to 9 am the following morning. Starting with the early morning interception of one of his stars Gloria DeLamour (Natasha Bassett) in a less-than-ideal photoshoot, Mannix moves from one crisis to another, coming up with short-term fixes that buy him just enough time to keep the cameras rolling so that Capitol Studios keeps rolling. A real problem emerges when Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), the star of the studio’s prestige pic HAIL, CAESAR!, goes missing. Mannix assumes that Whitlock has gone on one of his famous benders, but as the day unfolds his concern grows for Whitlock and the potential financial problems the star’s disappearance creates for completion of his latest movie.
The Coens create a sense of “everyday strangeness” in all of their movies and HAIL, CAESAR! is no exception. They have a knack of being able to transform mundane, regular characters and motivate them with actions that are peculiar and, to varying degrees, dangerous. In this latest film, they decide to hone in on the Hollywood writers who had joined the Communist Party in the 1950s (among others). This motley group, who describe themselves as “The Future”, play like a bunch of undergraduate university students who discover Marxism for the first time, linking every single piece of history to the cyclical theories espoused by Karl Marx. The pinnacle of their endeavours is the abduction of Baird Whitlock; an action designed to bring Capitol Studios to a grinding halt and for “The Studio” to acknowledge their work in helping create the success it enjoys. Unfortunately for them, they’re no match for Mannix, whose problem-solving capability knows no boundaries.
HAIL, CAESAR! boasts a great cast. Brolin, for the most part, delivers Eddie Mannix like a Raymond Chandler character: hard-boiled by years of doing the same thing, but not quite as cynical. He’s a man of faith and appreciates what “The Studio” has done for him. George Clooney is a little underwhelming as Whitlock. He’s got the “Star” quality the character calls for, but doesn’t come off as quite dumb enough to so easily fall for the plans of his abductors. The real stand-out is Alden Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle, Capitol’s in-house Western star who the studio’s New York owners decide they want to turn into an out-and-out Star. Ehrenreich is able to show Hobie as being completely out-of-his-depth when he’s bumped up to a “prestige” movie, but shows enough street-smarts to give Mannix some vital clues about what may have happened to Whitlock. (Never trust the Extras…)
There’s plenty of stars throughout HAIL, CAESAR! including Scarlett Johansson as the newly knocked-up leading lady DeeAnna Moran, Ralph Fiennes as the jaded & temperamental film director Laurence Laurentz, Tilda Swinton in the dual-role of competing identical twin gossip columnists Thora and Thessaly Thacker, Channing Tatum as the Fred Astaire-inspired Burt Gurney, as well as Jonah Hill and Frances McDormand. Somehow though, all of this star power never quite coalesces into a great film. HAIL, CAESAR! is a solid movie and the story definitely had promise, but the Third Act doesn’t deliver any outcomes that make the viewer as though much of anything has changed. Maybe that’s the point of this film. “The Studio” (read “the system”) mandates when and how things should change and until such time comes, have faith and be grateful that everyday has a “Hollywood” ending. It’s an unusual position for the Coens to take and one that doesn’t quite work.
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    Mark Geraghty

    www.screenfantastique.com

    Science Fiction, Fantasy, Comic Book, Action & Horror film commentator.

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