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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
POLTERGEIST
A modest family relocate due to financial troubles and soon find themselves knee-
deep in a haunted house with a difference. When the youngest daughter is simply
‘taken’ by a poltergeist into an alternate dimension... cue the CGI and all manner of
ridiculous mayhem modern cinema can conjure! Tobe Hooper’s Spielberg-produced
1982 original is a remarkable film that still to this day has people shuddering at the
thought of a toy clown, a tree, a dwarf paranormal expert, and impending storms
to trigger the other side into making contact most violent. To remake this film was
of course a cash decision to generate cheap thrills and box office smash’n’grab to
naïve teens, not to bring anything new, and actually drop some of the true resonance
of the original masterpiece (kids counting the time between lightning and thunder,
Indian burial mystique, dark humour instead of obvious gags). What we’re left with
is a half-arsed attempt at chills forgoing the accessible WTF felt long after the lights
come up in a cinema. Rockwell is miscast, hungover and bored as the disbelieving
dad who quickly goes along with whatever’s put in front of him, and while the kids
are solid enough, you simply don’t get scared after the first 20 mins. And as for the
‘clown’ sequence now being a ‘clowns’ sequence; poor form in extinguishing the
potential thrill too quickly, whereas the original left the stamp inside an audience’s
head for generations. No, you don’t really need to see this at all.
Chris Murray
CINEMA
REVIEWS
RELEASED:
Now Showing
DIRECTOR:
Paul Feig
CAST:
Melissa McCarthy, Rose
Byrne, Jason Statham
RATING:
MA15+
RELEASED:
Now Showing
DIRECTOR:
Gil Kenan
CAST:
Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie
DeWitt, Jared Harris
RATING:
M
RATING KEY:
Wow!
Good
Not bad
Meh Woof!
SLOW WEST
There’s a dreamlike quality to Ariel Kleiman’s
Partisan
, perhaps
because it unites Australian cinematic sensibilities with a European
setting and cast. Within the confines of a closed compound on the
outskirts of a derelict European city, Gregori (Vincent Cassel) presides
over a cult-like colony, the only man amidst a community of women
and children. He fosters an atmosphere of fear and dependence,
rejecting the curiosity for the outside world that the children inevitably
develop, all the while exploiting the very congregation that he
shepherds for his own financial gain. The perpetually fascinating Cassel
is a powerful screen presence, here consolidating a simmering rage
with charm. Jeremy Chabriel, as Gregori’s young son Alexander, has
an eerie demeanor that illuminates the repercussions regarding his
father’s hold over the unearthly community. Kleiman’s filmic space is
fantasy, and
Partisan
has that pensive timelessness that Sofia Coppola
accomplishes so effortlessly. There’s a sense that Kleiman is trying
to say something, but may not be entirely sure of what that may be.
There doesn't appear to be a sociopolitical agenda and
Partisan
might
best be read on an entirely bizarre and superficial level.
John Roebuck
RELEASED:
May 28
DIRECTOR:
Ariel Kleiman
CAST:
Vincent Cassel, Nigel Barber,
Jeremy Chabriel
RATING:
MA15+
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, 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. One
second you’re on the edge of your seat, the next you’re a little bored, confused at
the character motivations and simply waiting for something interesting to happen.
We simply don’t care enough for anyone to feel any emotional gravity – a sin in the
Western genre. 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:
June 4
DIRECTOR:
John Maclean
CAST:
Michael Fassbender,
Ben Mendelsohn, Kodi Smit-McPhee
RATING:
M
PARTISAN