35 / 58
35
SPY
Depending on how much you liked
Bridesmaids
and
The Heat
, you were
either apathetic or ecstatic to hear that writer-director Paul Feig and
actress Melissa McCarthy had teamed up again for the comedy crime-
caper
Spy
. It turns out that even if you disliked those former two flicks,
you'll doubtless find something to love in the latter. Feig's story – about a
jovial deskbound analyst in the FBI who ends up having to go undercover
when two field agents are compromised – is still full of dumb/hilarious
absurdities, but manages to transcend its
Big Momma's House
-like
premise with the most rewarding script McCarthy (who ain't no Martin
Lawrence) has ever run with. Moreover, it's the best opportunity she's
had to showcase her winning mix of dry and slapstick humour, not to
mention her ability to wring real empathy from an audience. The support
of Jude Law and Jason Statham lend it ample kudos (and who doesn't
love seeing either of those two stretch their funny bones), and most
of the biggest chortles you'll get come from our own ubiquitous and
mega-talented Rose Byrne, whose haughty and uncomplicated delivery is
totally enchanting. Definitely worth it (we're as surprised as you).
Zoë Radas
PITCH PERFECT 2
Pitch Perfect
saw the debut of Anna Kendrick as the “alt girl” who can
sing, joining the Barden University Bellas and taking them on to win at
the National Championships. Now, the second time round, having lost
Anna Camp but gained Hailee Steinfeld as a young Legacy, Kendrick is
joined again by Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Adam DeVine and Skylar
Astin to out-voice the competition. With an opening performance by
the Bellas for Obama’s birthday, things don’t quite go according to
the arrangement, and the Bellas find themselves disqualified from
competing at the collegiate level. That would have been it for the film
had podcasters Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins not offered
to reinstate them, should they win the International Championships.
The best part about the sequel is it doesn’t try to be anything else. Yes,
it’s full of lame jokes at the expense of the black lesbian. Yes, Fat Amy
is always the one making the jokes. Yes, Bumper is still awkward. But
it works.
Pitch Perfect 2
is a perfect sequel. It’s still upbeat, it’s still
unique, and it’s still itself. A ca-awesome.
Alesha Kolbe
RELEASED:
Now Showing
DIRECTOR:
Paul Feig
CAST:
Melissa McCarthy, Rose
Byrne, Jason Statham
RATING:
R16
RELEASED:
Now Showing
DIRECTOR:
Elizabeth Banks
CAST:
Anna Kendrick, Rebel
Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld
RATING:
M
RATING KEY:
Wow!
Good
Not bad
Meh Woof!
SLOW WEST
True action cinema is displacement of belief combined with edge-of-the-
seat, open-mouthed wonder and the sheer adrenaline one feels when on
a rollercoaster drifting over the first precipice.
Mad Max: Fury Road
is non-
stop groin anxiety, the kind that causes the entire left side of your body to
sound the alarm. Forget
Fast & Furious
set-piece safety or a Michael Bay
CGI cartoon, Mad Max films have always been about danger; even in the
audience, you feel you could die at any moment. Director George Miller
has once again raised the bar in what this genre can or can’t do in terms
of pushing an audience’s tolerance, endurance and pre-conceived notions
of good, bad, evil and the vast grey areas in-between. We find Max (Tom
Hardy) captured, tortured and now used as a live blood bag to provide
vitality to the willing ‘War Boys’ of the Skeletor-ish, Immorton Joe (Hugh
Keays-Byrne), a self-proclaimed warlord controlling countless minions via
his possession of precious water and ‘guzzolene’. When Joe’s trusted
warrior, Furiosa (a one-armed Charlize Theron), goes rogue on a fuel mission
to spirit away a semi-trailer full of his personal stash of Amazonian breeding
stock, the chase is on, and boy-oh-boy you’d better make sure you’re
strapped into that cinema seat..
Chris Murray
RELEASED:
Now Showing
DIRECTOR:
George Miller
CAST:
Tom Hardy, Charlize
Theron, Hugh Keays-Byrne
RATING:
R16
A 16-year-old, lovesick British aristocrat travels across 19th century frontier
America in search of his beloved, who happens to have a bounty on her
head. When a strange Irish mercenary promises to see him through safely,
he soon realises the Wild West takes no prisoners and trust is a very loose
term. Former frontman for the Beta Band, this is director John Maclean’s
first feature film – shot here in New Zealand – with ambitions set to ultra
high. It's a Euro-Western ‘journey film’ with aesthetic sensibilities aimed
between a Coen Bros offbeat/arthouse kink and a slow-burn
Proposition
with open scabbed morality and bloodlust. That it never quite achieves
either is a letdown to the amazing cinematography, strong performances
from Smit-McPhee and Fassbender, and a desire to evoke classic western
iconography in every frame. Two remarkable set-pieces aside (a general
store heist gone awry and the eventual showdown with bullets aplenty),
this feels as though it was green-lit too early in the script stage to fully
flesh out what could have been an existential journey into the hearts of
mad-men-on-missions, instead of some beautiful footage simply edited
together in the hope of a rounded experience.
Chris Murray
RELEASED:
Now Showing
DIRECTOR:
John Maclean
CAST:
Michael
Fassbender, Ben Mendelsohn, Kodi Smit-McPhee
RATING:
R13
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
CINEMA
REVIEWS