The Road

It's hard to review a film like The Road simply because it is so bleak I would struggle to recommend it. I certainly won't be rushing out to see it again.

That said, it is a quality piece of film making and a story that while bleak, cold and a shade depressing is very interesting.

Set in no specific time and few characters are actually given names so as not to date it I guess, the film follows a Father (Viggo Mortenson) and a Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they try to survive as the world dies around them.

We learn in flashbacks that the boy's mother (Charlize Theron) saw no point in raising a child in a post apocalyptic time and eventually gave up, walking out on her family and to her death.

The father and son travel south looking for the coast. You get the sense that the Father is retracing his history and the good times by visiting places special to him along the way. Almost like he's slowly letting his life flash before his eyes.

He's also preparing his son for a time when he won't be around. Yep, this is a fun movie.

Apparently it is very faithful to the book (I haven't read it). It presents a world that is dark, grey, where people resort to any means to survive and the only hope is the hope you carry yourself (they refer to it as the fire).

A few things aren't made clear, particularly how the world reached this point. But in the end you don't need to know how and why, you've got to take the journey for yourself.

The leads are very strong in their roles and they are tough roles because there's not a huge amount of dialogue at times. I won't go into what happens, if you're curious it is worth a look because there is something to be taken from The Road.

But it's such tough going at times it's not the type of film you'd see more than one.

A 7.5 out of 10.

Chuck season 3 is .... awesome!

It seems like an eternity since I saw a new episode of Chuck, easily the coolest show on television.
(Well if you count the fact it is a TV show, because it's another great series that Channel 9 passed on). It is still, I have to say it, awesome!
At the end of season 2 Chuck had a new intersect downloaded and we were given a glimpse of what he's in for - and it was hilarious.
Now Chuck has been sacked by the FBI because he can't control his emotions, therefore the intersect in his head doesn't work as expected. It still works, and when it does Chuck turns into a super spy but when it doesn't he's your average schmuck.
All the great elements of the show are still there and they have cleverly changed the dynamics between Chuck and Sarah.
So I say welcome back Chuck. I'm looking forward to more of Captain Awesome in coming episodes as he was more in the background in the opener.

Invictus

It says something about Clint Eastwood as a film maker when he can get an Aussie to will on the Springboks in a game against the Wallabies.

Invictus is the true story of the rise of Nelson Mandela to power and how he used the game of rugby union to unite a divided nation.

Morgan Freeman is perfectly cast as Mandela, who rose to power in the early 1990s after 27 years in jail. He sees his country on the verge of civil war and decided to get behind the 1995 Rugby World Cup as a way of bringing the blacks and whites together.

Of course he meets resistance in all levels of society. A meeting with Springboks captain Francois Piennar (Matt Damon) leads to a resurgence in South African rugby and an unlikely World Cup win (come on, you really think they wouldn't win?).

As an Australian and reasonably familiar with rugby (I did cover a number of games for the paper about a decade ago) I found it easy to follow, particularly with the theatre taking place on the football field towards the climax.

People less familiar with rugby union may struggle in that department. As I said, Freeman is well cast and Matt Damon (who really looked like a football player, unlike some of his team mates) was also very strong.

I have to admit though I did have a moment towards the end when I thought 'Matt Damon is playing rugby, that doesn't look right' or something to that effect.

Invictus hits all the right notes and Eastwood is a master at manipulating how you feel about a situation or a character (see Gran Torino). It's not the greatest sports movie of all time or anything like that but through strong, though predictable (but it is a true story) story telling and good performances by the leads it works.

The only query I have is about a fly over by a passenger plane prior to the start of the World Cup Final. Looked more like a potential terrorist act than a support-your-nation kind of thing.

Perhaps it happened, I haven't looked it up yet.

Nevertheless, I'm giving an 8 out of 10.

I don't think it will figure in my top five of 2010 and if it does it will be a disappointing year. That's not saying I didn't like it (I just gave it four stars) but I hope there's better in store.

Who's the boss

It's been an interesting week so far as I fill the role of my boss while he's on holidays.
Happily everything has gone pretty well so far.
When you are in charge it certainly is an eye opening experience and I've enjoyed it largely. Having to make decisions, deal with the other people you work with in a different context and be responsible for the product sound great in theory and while they are great you forget at times that everything is riding on you.
You know what Peter Parker was told - ''with great power comes great responsibility''.
So now, TGIF tomorrow. Heading off to see Invictus at the movies and will have to think of good ways to stay out of the heat on Saturday (one comes to mind).

Bran Nue Dae

This could well be the feel good movie of the year.

And it's an Australian musical featuring a largely aboriginal cast!

The story centres on Willie (Rocky McKenzie), a teenage boy living in Broome and destined to become a priest thanks largely to the influence of his Catholic mother.

Then he meets Rosie (played by Australian Idol runner-up Jessica Mauboy) and everything changes. He's shipped back off to boarding school, run by the strict Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush), but runs afoul of the rules there and runs away.

This sets off a chain of events (and hilarious songs) which sees Willie fleeing from Perth to Broome (for those that don't know this is a very long distance) and running into a number of interesting characters played by very familiar faces to Aussies.

They include Ernie Dingo as Tadpole, a bum who joins Willie on his trek back to Broome, Missy Higgins as a 60s hippie, Deborah Mailman as an outback woman with one thing on her mind and Magda Szubanski as a roadhouse owner who comes on a bit strong with the customers.

McKenzie, an unknown actor, really steals the show from his more notable cast members. He has a presence that is magnetic when he is on screen.

Some of the songs border on ridiculous but I think that's the point. The film is done with a great spirit and pokes fun at anyone possible, which is a great tradition of the Australian comedy and something that has been lost in a string of far too serious local films.

I also think it is a great exhibition of some aspects of aboriginal culture (not that I am any kind of expert).

If you come out picking at the acting then you've missed the point. This is a musical with some feel good songs, hilarious moments and just good light hearted fun. You'll want to 'be an aboriginie' too after seeing this (if you see it you'll know what I mean!).

I thoroughly enjoyed it and it gets an 8 out of 10.

Aussie, Aussie, Bangladesh???

This morning I was browsing in the shopping centre and a bunch of Australia Day clothes were on display.
Since I didn't have anything that patriotic I had a bit of a look and was considering buying a shirt. As I was checking the sizes the tag on the shirt caught my attention. There was a rather disproportionately large 'Made in Bangladesh' notation on the tag.
Once I saw that I immediately dismissed any thought of buying a shirt or anything else from that range. I find it quite offensive that a store expects us to buy Australia Day clothing that was so brazenly not made in Australia.
They didn't even try to hide it. So much for patriotism!

Sherlock Holmes

I didn't have a firm view on how Sherlock Holmes should be portrayed, though I'd always thought he's fairly dignified and reserved.

Clearly, Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes is neither. But that's not really a bad thing.

Holmes and his 'partner' Dr Watson (Jude Law) are out to stop the mysterious and seemingly powerful Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) from overtaking England.

That's your basic plot.

As far as I was concerned the plot was fairly patchy and the pacing not always consistent. But on the other hand the characters were pretty well defined and performed, particularly Jude Law's turn as Watson.

His interaction with Holmes is always interesting and, apparently, true to the traditional dynamics of the two whose relationship is complicated on screen. At times they bicker like an old couple.

Complicating matters is the presence of Holmes' old flame Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams).

There's a fair bit of action and that's something I really didn't anticipate a Sherlock Holmes movie having (until I first saw the preview of course). But again it's not out of context.

What the film's purpose is, really, is to set up for a sequel and it did that marvellously. We even know who the next villain is going to be.

It's enjoyable and while director Guy Ritchie could have done better with the flow of the film the end product is still satisfying.

That said, I give it an 8/10. However, I feel this is a 9 gone begging.

The 2009 Raymo awards

It's that time again, the rundown of the best (and worst) movies of the year.
In total I saw a paltry (compared to some) 29 films in 2009 and I'd have to say there was a distinct lack of quality overall.
A few blockbusters that delivered, a few that were passable and a few that bombed.
So I present my top 5 films of the year just past.

1. Up
Pixar can do no wrong. They took a story about an old man fulfilling a dream by attaching balloons to his house and flying to an exotic location, with a hapless boy scout stowaway in tow, and made it work. What makes it the film of the year for me is that it was such a good story, it was visually excellent (particularly in 3D) and it makes you feel good. Pixar do it again and have set the bar high for Toy Story 3.
2. Gran Torino
It's Clint Eastwood chanelling a bit of Dirty Harry in easily the best drama of the year for me. Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a widower Korean War veteran who takes on the task of turning his ethnic teenage neighbour Thao into an upstanding citizen after he tries to steal Walt's prized Gran Torino. With pressure from his cousin to join a local gang it's no easy task for him to keep Thao from joining the dark side. It could be seen as a bit offensive by some but this was an outstanding film.
3. Avatar
It's hard to watch a film that is regarded by a lot of reviewers as the best movie they have seen. I wouldn't go that far but Avatar certainly is something else. Aussie actor Sam Worthington shines yet again as Jake Sully, a wheelchair bound ex-marine who is assigned to take his twin brother's place on a mission to the planet Pandora, which is home to a valuable mineral and a vicious indigenous tribe. He has to use an avatar, a created body controlled by his mind, to infiltrate the tribe. It's not a new plotline and that's were it fell down for me. However, that is being a bit picky. Visually it is stunning, the detail is intricate and the performances are solid. Definitely groundbreaking but not the best I've ever seen.
4. Star Trek
The brilliant thing about this new Star Trek film is that is wasn't so much a remake but, like Batman Begins, a re-imagining. They acknowledged the previous series with a storyline that made a lot of sense - if you didn't get it, this film was set in a parallel universe. Again, a great cast made the movie very watchable. Headed by Chris Pine as Kirk, who I thought was brilliant, Zachary Quinto (from Heroes) as Spock, Eric Bana as the villain Nero and Chris Pegg as Scotty plus the pivotal cameo from Leonard Nimoy, this is a Star Trek film that does go beyond what they've done before. Excellent.
5. I Love You, Man
Easily the comedy of the year despite the hype over the Hangover (which was good). Paul Rudd is Peter Klaven, a real estate agent who is engaged to be married. When it is brought to his attention that his bride will have seven bridesmaids and he will have no-one, he sets out to make a male friend. After a few false starts he meets Sidney (Jason Segal) and for whatever reason they hit it off. Great laughs here, a great guys movie and I really thought it had a good message about the importance of your mates.

Honourable mentions: New Moon (was hoping it would be better than Twilight but the director stuffed it, bring on Eclipse), Moon (amazing what you can do with one actor and a great script), Seven Pounds, The Boys Are Back and Love The Beast.
Surprise of the year: District 9. While I only gave it 6.5 this is a movie that got better and better the more you thought about it. Brave, different, like nothing I've ever seen before.
Flop of the year: Public Enemies. Hello, plot! You can't just stick Johnny Depp in a movie and not give him a character to work with. What a waste.