The Local Paper - Wednesday, June 23, 2021 - Page 17
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Movies, DVDs with Jim Sherlock, Aaron Rourke What’s Hot and What’s Not FILM: CRUELLA (Now in Cinemas & Streaming on DISNEY+): G e n r e : Crime/Comedy. Cast: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Paul Walter, Mark Strong. Year: 2021. Rating: P G . Length: 134 Minutes. Stars: * * * ½ Review: Live-action prequel to the 1961 Disney animated classic "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" of a young fashion designer with a dark past in '70s London who slowly but surely turns into the renowned villain we now know as Cruella de Vil as she wreaks havoc against her diabolical nemesis, The Baroness. Without giving too much of the plot away, this is a deliciously wicked, deliriously delightful and outrageously stylish journey of one of the screen's most revered anti-heroes, a hugely entertaining and sparkling slice of scrumptious offbeat fun that is sure to be as stimulating for adults as it will be for children, and for the few with what it may lack in some areas, it certainly makes up for it in others as a beguiling visual feast for the eyes and senses that never lets go. Emma Stone delivers a smash-and-grab and wildly eccentric duel performance as the orphaned Estella and soon to be devilishly wicked Cruella de Vil, as does the cold-hearted, ruthless and mean spirited Emma Thompson as the fashion nemesis with a tragic secret, The Baroness, both delivering their respective performances with acidtongued delight, and aided superbly with comic relief by Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser as Estelle/Cruella's long time street crime cohorts, and veteran Mark Strong (RockNrolla) as The Baroness' loyal valet and accomplice. Overflowing with eye-popping costume design, period detail and a standout soundtrack, Director Graig Gillespie, whose previous credits include the Oscar winning "I, Tonya" (2017), "The Finest Hours" (2016), and the 2011 remake of horror cult-classic "Fright Night", has ultimately delivered a fashionably flashy, charming, poignant, playful and delectably dark as night old fashioned crime-comedy romp of extravagant theatrics in which being so bad has rarely ever been so bewitchingly good. FILM: CRISIS (New to DVD): G e n r e : Drama/Thriller. Cast: Gary Oldman, Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans. Year: 2021. Rating: M A 1 5 + Length: 118 Minutes. Stars: * * ½ Review: Set against the backdrop of the opioid epidemic, three stories follow a police drug traffic operation arranging a multi-cartel Fentanyl smuggling operation, a desperate mother searching for answers of her missing son, and a university professor who battles unexpected revelations about his employer at a pharmaceutical company bringing a new "non-addictive" painkiller to market. Fascinating in parts and moderately entertaining drama is well paced but falters throughout with lack of balance between the characters and their stories, and that there's little new on offer, and even though its heart is in the right place in covering real life issues, this interwoven trilogy of stories and events would have served far better had it only covered one, or at most, combined only two of the more compelling stories, that of the mother and her son and the University Professor, but as it stands there's too much reliance on cliché and overall it seems to have gone 'a bridge too far.' Co-executive producer and star Gary Oldman gives for the most part a relatively restrained yet compelling performance as the University Professor battling personal beliefs and a giant pharmaceutical corporation, as does Evangeline Lilly with good solid conviction as the tormented and embittered mother, however, it is Armie Hammer as the clichéd gung-ho lone wolf undercover cop with brazen do-or-die 'it's my way or the highway' antics in this section of the story where the cracks of credibility and reality appear. Writer-director Nicholas Jarecki, whose only previous feature credit is the superior thriller "Arbitrage" (2012) with Richard Gere, has taken a genuinely interesting and tragic topic that rages amongst our culture today, and even though it is all well intentioned, it fails to hit a nerve or inspire, a cinematic equivalent of a multi-layered hamburger filled with too much filling that ultimately fails to satisfy the appetite or leave a lasting impression. - James Sherlock
Rourke’s Reviews In The Heights ■ (PG). 143 minutes. Opens in cinemas June 24. After the huge success of Hamilton, which has taken the world by storm, Lin-Manuel Miranda gets to adapt his 2008 Tony Award winning Broadway musical for the big screen, with a hefty budget, and directed by Jon M. Chu, who helmed the box-office smash Crazy Rich Asians. Despite a flashy technical sheen, In The Heights is lightweight and hollow, taking worthy subject matter and sanding the edges off it. The young, unknown leads lack genuine screen presence (the only familiar face is Jimmy Smits), never truly grabbing audience attention and pulling us into the story and each character's plight. The story's utter predictability doesn't help, and its examination of neighbourhood gentrification is as hard-hitting as the 2017 TV sitcom Superior Donuts. Chu slicks up every musical number by using every technical trick in the book, but all this does is amplify the static drama happening in-between. Those who loved Miranda's Hamilton will most likely take to In The Heights, but for others, this is merely a soft, family-friendly, song-and-dance version of Spike Lee's magnificent 1989 film, Do The Right Thing, and is nowhere near as inventive and provocative as Lee's criminally under-rated 2015 musical, Chi-raq. RATING - **½
Conjuring 3 ■ The Devil Made Me Do It (MA). 112 minutes. Now showing in cinemas. Paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) return to face a case of the supernatural, but this third official chapter in the series (alongside a slew of spin-offs that are part of the Conjuring universe) is a tepid affair, relying too often on formula plotting and cheap scares. Set in the early 80s, we see the Warrens investigate a series of possessions, which all may have been committed by the same demonic spirit, but first they have to convince a court of law that the phenomena really exists, as it is the defence put forth on behalf of Arne (Ruairi O'Connor), who killed a man while overtaken by a vicious entity. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two Conjuring movies, with director James Wan confidently handling the familiar material with skill and a genuine love for the genre. After Saw (2004), Wan has commendably moved away from
graphic gore, to relying more on atmosphere and suspense, making him stand out from a number of his fellow contemporaries. Here he hands the reigns over to Michael Chaves (The Curse Of La Llorona), and his undistinguished style hurts this entry early on, with every scare painfully obvious. Wilson and Farmiga still make a good team, but the script lets them down on this occasion. The Conjuring 3 is not the worst in its ever-expanding universe, but there is a staleness that hovers over proceedings. The Warrens, as played by the two stars, are characters worthy of a cinema franchise, but this series needs a serious shake-up, if it wants to have any chance of continuing to successfully surprise and engage its sizeable legion of fans. RATING - **
A Quiet Place ■ Part II (M). 97 minutes. Now showing in cinemas. With the first film becoming a surprise box-office smash, it was inevitable that a sequel would follow, and returning writer/director John Krasinski obliges, delivering more of the same but on a bigger budget this time. The surviving members of the Abbott family, headed by Evelyn (Emily Blunt), decide to leave their farmhouse fort to seek out their nearby neighbour (Cillian Murphy), so they can locate the source of a radio signal that may offer hope of escape from the sound-sensitive aliens that have decimated the earth. Leading the way is Evelyn's deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), who is sure salvation lies ahead of them. The original movie was formula stuff, relying on tropes and cliches horror fans had seen a million times before, with Tremors and Signs the most noticeable influences. This time around Krasinski seems inspired by Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later (even down to the appearance of Murphy), but is missing that film's propulsive energy and distinctive direction, instead letting illogic and stupidity take over a little too often. Simmonds is again the acting standout, but both movies are vastly inferior to the one that gave us her wonderful feature film debut, Todd Haynes's under-appreciated Wonderstruck (2017). For those who don't watch horror movies, A Quiet Place Part II may offer some thrills, but for those that have seen a few, this is utterly forgettable, supplying little in the way of originality, compelling characters, and most of all, scares. RATING - ** - Aaron Rourke
Top 10 Lists JUNE 20-26 THE AUSTRALIAN BOX OFFICE TOP TEN: 1. THE CONJURING 3: The Devil Made Me Do It. 2. A QUIET PLACE Part II. 3. CRUELLA. 4. DREAM HORSE. 5. SPIRIT UNTAMED. 6. WRATH OF MAN. 7. COUSINS. 8. PETER RABBIT 2. 9. THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD. 10. JOSEE, THE TIGER AND THE FISH. NEW RELEASES AND COMING SOON TO CINEMAS AROUND AUSTRALIA: JUNE 17: FAST & FURIOUS 9, FROM THE VINE, MY ZOE, PLAYING WITH SHARKS. JUNE 24: BUCKLEY'S CHANCE, IN THE HEIGHTS, THE HITMAN'S WIFE'S BODYGUARD, THE SPARKS BROTHERS. JULY 1: ESCAPE ROOM: Tournament of Champions, HERSELF, LITTLE JOE, VIVO, WEREWOLVES WITHIN. JULY 8: BLACK WIDOW 2D, BLACK WIDOW 3D, EXHIBITION ON SCREEN: Leonardo The Works. TOP DVD AND BLU-RAY SALES: 1. NOBODY [Action/Crime/Bob Odenkirk, Christopher Lloyd]. 2. GREENLAND [Action/Thriller/Gerard Butler, Hope Davis]. 3. CRISIS [Drama/Thriller/Gary Oldman, Evangeline Lilly]. 4. THE UNHOLY [Horror/Jeffrey Dean Morgan]. 5. NOMADLAND [Drama/Frances McDormand, David Strathairn]. 6. COSMIC SIN [Action/Sci-Fi/Adventure/ Bruce Willis, Frank Grillo]. 7.CHAOS WALKING [Sci-Fi/Action/ Adventure/Fantasy/Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland]. 8. Zack Snyder's JUSTICE LEAGUE [Action/Fantasy/Adventure/Ben Affleck, Amy Adams]. 9. BLACKBIRD [Drama/Comedy/Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill, Kate Winslet]. NEW HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK: JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH. GODZILLA vs KONG. GODZILLA vs KONG 4K-UHD. TOM & JERRY: The Movie. DVD AND/OR BLU-RAY NEW & RE-RELEASE CLASSIC MOVIES HIGHLIGHTS: WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE [Classic/Sci-Fi/ Thriller/John Hoyt, Barbara Rush]. NEW RELEASE TELEVISION, DOCUMENTARY AND MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS: FULLER HOUSE: Season 5. FISK: Season 1. - James Sherlock
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