April 2021
Big screen fare continues to disappoint here in Sydney, and I was generating far too much negativity to share as 2020 closed. However, honesty suggests that we have moved from releasing marginal films from the past to marginal films from the present. Hopefully, it improves from here. Here goes for 2021 so far, plus a few Christmas releases:

Movie: The Marksman
Director:  Robert Lorenz
Stars: Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson is quite a busy actor, just check out how many movies he has had released in the last five years alone. This one is being marketed as one of his last action roles which might seem possible given he is 68, but if he is playing Eastwood roles like this, he might do it for another ten to twenty years. This is directed by Robert Lorenz, who was Clint’s second wheel as director and producer for much of his 21st century oeuvre, and critical commentary uses the term “Eastwoodian”.

Widowed Arizona rancher gets caught up in a cartel revenge moment and... you have seen the pieces before. It is not bad, just tired, perhaps exhausted.

Movie: Shadow in the Cloud
Director:  Roseanne Liang
Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz

Chloë Grace Moretz brings an attitude from Mindy in Kick Ass to a WW2 bomber doing a cargo run in the Pacific. The bomber is afflicted with a gremlin, and Moretz’s character Maude’s sudden and dramatic presence on the plane seems more than coincidental to the highly strung crew.
I can see the attraction Moretz might have seen in this, but despite solid production standards and a not-completely-awful script this is as dumb as rocks and presumably they were shooting for the so-bad-it’s-good genre. What they hit was a well-deserved 4.7 rating on IMDb.
If you are not a teenager then this is for Moretz fan boys and fan girls only.

Movie: Ammonite
Director:  Francis Lee
Stars: Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan

This is quiet, deliberate, subtle yet substantial for the first half. 1840’s England, specifically Lyme Regis, and a fictionalised version of an historical woman - Mary Anning - fossicker. Winslet’s Mary is emotionally restrained, work focused, entirely practical and unsentimental but it is the bigger picture that stands out. Issues of family, sexism, money and class reveal themselves - and the general misery and fragility of 19th century life. Ronan’s Charlotte Murchison is left in Mary’s care and Mary’s contempt for the weakling Charlotte slowly erodes.
It is all proceeding deliberately and when Mary finds herself affected by the sight of Charlotte’s bare foot, I was quite impressed with the way such a restrained character was being presented. Subsequently, and I can hardly believe I am writing this, they get it on, and it is disbelief breaking and unsatisfying. Winslet is proud of the sex scenes; they will be available on your typical celebrity-sex-scenes site soon enough, be very well received and in themselves they are fine. Contextually within the film though I am not so sure. You will get it of course - and that is the problem. This is not an explicit film, you need to bring it - but then suddenly you do not, it is right there.
Bizarrely there is a brigade saying the scenes are not explicit enough, as though the sex is all that matters. After this break I found the spell broken, and every point that follows seems as subtle as a brick. I am still commending it to you just to remind you how grateful you should be for living in the 21st century.

Movie: Monster Hunter
Director:  Paul W.S. Anderson
Stars: Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman

According to 45 seconds of research, Monster Hunter is a game franchise owned by Capcom, with total sales of 65 million units. Guess what else Capcom owns? Resident Evil.

So, having turned Resident Evil into a reliable earner as a movie franchise which no doubt helped game sales as well in some sort of diabolical feedback loop, someone has decided to kick off Monster Hunter on film and they have turned to Milla Jovovich to do the job again as the lead. Husband Paul W. S. Anderson directs her for the umpteenth time. If you do not mind the ‘gems’ produced by their long-time professional combo then you will probably be fine with this. I am not sure Ron Perlman really wanted to be here, but it might just be the incredible hair design he had to wear.

For everyone else it is a standard game-inspired action flick where the money went into effects and costumes, not writing. Like any game milieu, standard physics and the laws of thermodynamics do not apply, so if believability is important do not bother. However, if stunts and massive beasts with nasty temperaments are your thing then the production standards are there, and this is more watchable than the 5.2 IMDB ranking would suggest.

Movie: Superintelligence
Director:  Ben Falcone
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, James Corden, Bobby Cannavale

The best part was receiving a complimentary ticket at the end due to a technical issue delaying the start by a few minutes.

Movie: The Dry
Director:  Robert Connolly
Stars: Eric Bana

I have not read the Jane Harper book, but certainly thinking about it after this.

Eric Bana leads well, mostly well supported though with a few weaker links. Standard crime solver with the simultaneously socially claustrophobic, yet physically expansive setting of an Australian country town.

Recommended, but I must admit disappointment with the realisation of some portrayals of violence being poor to the point of disbelief breaking.

Movie: Happiest Season
Director:  Clea DuVall
Stars: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Mary Steenburgen, Dan Levy

Lesbian Christmas dramedy. Ticks many boxes and entertaining, particularly if you are not going to think too hard about it.

Probably worth it for the cast alone. Kristen Stewart, Mary Steenburgen, and Dan Levy - even if he is just playing an actually gay David Rose (Schitt’s Creek) type - all good value despite the stereotypes. Mixed feelings about Mackenzie Davis, whom you should have seen recently in Irresistible, and might have seen in Terminator: Dark Fate, and it is her unconvincing performance creating too many tensions to ignore when a fair amount of suspension of disbelief is necessary here. If you are playing opposite Stewart and there is a lack of sexual chemistry and tension then that is on you, with the caveat that Davis’ character is very compromised here and that would have been particularly challenging to get right.

Entertaining, but fails under analysis, so just enjoy.

Movie: Fatman
Director:  Eshom Nelms, Ian Nelms
Stars: Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins, Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Mel Gibson stars as Chris, the Fatman, aka Santa. The perpetually menacing Walton Goggins plays the Skinny Man - a hit man with a contract on Santa to fulfil.

This is not unwatchable and if you like Goggins in say, Justified, then you will probably watch this just for him. Otherwise, I have no idea why this film was even made, or for whom. It is certainly not for kids, and not for adults, so adolescents maybe. Adolescents who like hurting little kids possibly, or who want severe violence with their comedy.

Juddy keeps busy consuming cultural media while posing as a student at a major Sydney university, thus shirking real work. He hosts pub trivia, and tutors at said university, for beer and book money.