Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 12 September 2023

Regardless of the artistic medium – books, movies, TV shows, plays – audiences’ interest in the “whodunit” has endured for as long as the genre has existed.  We yearn for entertainment and, as unrealistic as these tales can be, there’s something satisfying about stepping into the shoes of an experienced detective, piecing the clues together, and identifying the murderer(s).

Right now, there are two film franchises tapping into that demand.  The first is the Knives Out Mystery series, created by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig as the camp detective Benoit Blanc.  Films were released in 2019 and 2022 with a third instalment hurriedly in production.  The series has been deservedly lauded for its fun and freshness with both nominated at the Oscars for best screenplay.  Through hilariously eccentric performances and craftily written twists, they strike the right balance between realistic intrigue and silly spoof.

The second franchise is based on the works of the late Agatha Christie and sees newly minted Oscar winner Kenneth Branagh (Belfast) serving as both director and star.  He embodies the character of Hercule Poirot, a world-renowned detective who is the first person contacted when a complex crime needs solving.  Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022) are now followed by the latest outing, A Haunting in Venice.

Bringing back memories of Woody Allen’s 2014 comedy Magic in the Moonlight, Venice opens with Poirot lured out of retirement by an old friend (Fey) and asked to debunk the methods of a woman (Yeoh) who can communicate with the dead.  It all takes place on a rainy evening in a rundown, “haunted” Venetian mansion owned by a mother (Reilly) who has engaged the spiritual medium to help answer questions about her daughter’s untimely death.  Those in attendance include family connections and the hired help.

I refer to Knives Out to help illustrate the limitations of the Branagh-led series.  There’s nothing overtly wrong about A Haunting in Venice but the material feels “dated” in comparison.  It’s a ho-hum 1940s mystery that doesn’t offer up any shock-inducing twists and sticks to the well-worn mould – a murder, interviews where everyone has a motive, and a relatively straight-forward resolution.  Laughs are thin (Poirot makes the odd quib) and, except for Michelle Yeoh as the spiritualist and Tina Fey as a waning American writer, the characters’ backstories aren’t hugely interesting.  Knives Out offers more originality and humour.

A Haunting in Venice is the kind of movie where you’re never bored… but you’re never blown away.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 29 August 2023

In doing pre-reading for the release of Haunted Mansion, I realised a movie about the Disneyland ride, starring Eddie Murphy, had already been made back in 2003.  I’d completely forgotten about it!  I can’t find my original notes but, considering it made by worst 10 list that year, suffice to say I wasn’t a fan.  It might also explain why I’ve supressed all memory of the experience.

The upside is that this 2023 reboot can only be an improvement.  Sticking with the Disney motto of leaning into existing intellectual property (as opposed to new ideas), this is a safe, formulaic comedy pitched at the family crowd.  The title may allude to something scary but the PG rating here in Australia suggests its anything but.  The lighter tone creates a vibe reminiscent to Hocus Pocus, The Addams Family and Hotel Transylvania.

The narrative is easy to follow.  A widowed mother (Dawson) and her curious son move into a rundown mansion with hopes of transforming it into a bed and breakfast.  It takes only one evening to realise it’s haunted by ghosts.  The obvious response is to flee but that option is removed via a convenient plot device – once you’ve met the ghosts, they’ll follow you no matter where you run.

With no other viable alternatives, the mum pulls together a diverse team including a spectral photographer (Stanfield), an exorcising priest (Wilson), and a questionable psychic (Haddish), to help rid the house of paranormal beings.  As part of their work, they learn more about the history of the property which helps understand why strange things are afoot.  It’s simple with few surprises.

The cast draw on their varied comedic approaches to help lift the material.  Oscar nominee LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah) plays the “straight man” while Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) goes for the opposite end of the spectrum in creating an over-the-top character who is seldom serious.  Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto provide cameos but they’re largely unforgettable.

There’s enough here to satisfy younger audiences.  For everyone else, Haunted Mansion has a few decent gags but struggles to entertain for the full two hours.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 06 September 2023

It’s not the easiest genre to navigate but filmmakers such as Christopher Guest (Best in Show), Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows), and Larry Charles (Bruno) have shown what’s possible with mockumentaries.  One key ingredient always comes to mind – great actors who can generate laughs while maintaining a serious, deadpan disposition.  They (almost) make you believe you’re watching real people in a real setting (despite the stupidity of the scenario).

Theatre Camp is the genre’s latest entry and is centred on a summer camp for nerdish kids who love acting and musical theatre.  The latest camp begins on an unplanned note when the long-time manager has a strobe-light related mishap (both humorous and tragic) and her inexperienced son takes the reins.  He knows as much about theatre as he does about business (which is nothing) and so it falls upon the loyal, eccentric teachers to pick up the slack.

In trying to put thoughts into words, I’m split down the middle on Theatre Camp.  It’s a fun idea but the execution doesn’t live up to the concept.  As an example, the idiosyncrasies of the adult characters are overcooked.  Does Troy need to be such a clueless try-hard when it comes to management?  Does Janet need to be so goofily ill-equipped in taking the new job?  Does Rebecca-Diane need to be so obvious with his continual disappearances?  The film’s best/realest characters are the children and I wish they had more of a focus.

That said, there are still more than enough laughs to be extracted from the material.  Some are quick, throw-away gags where someone will be made fun of… while others require a longer set up including the climax to an original musical performed by the kids as the camp comes to a close.  Most audiences should enjoy this but those with knowledge of musical theatre will probably latch onto a few more jokes than the rest of us.

Many were involved in bringing Theatre Camp to life, but significant credit belongs to 27-year-old Molly Gordon who serves as director, writer, and actor.  The script was heavily improvised, and the shoot was wrapped up in less than 3 weeks.  In interviews, Gordon has acknowledged mockumentary guru Christopher Guest as an inspiration and it’s easy to see from the finished product.

Getting a small Australian release following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, Theatre Camp is a light, breezy watch.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 24 August 2023

Past Lives serves up one of the best opening scenes of the year.  It’s 4am in New York City as a group of people, who we never get to see, look across a bar and watch two men and a woman engage in a conversation.  While they can’t hear what’s being said, they’re analysing their facial expressions and body language to speculate about who they are to each other.  It’s a fun, original way to introduce the film’s three leading characters because we, as the audience, can make our own observations in trying to answer the same question.

The film takes place in Manhattan where 30-something-year-olds Nora (Lee) and Arthur (Magaro) are a happily married couple.  They’re creative artists (he’s an author, she’s a playwright) who go about their lives with relative simplicity.  We get a strong sense of their relationship as they lie in bed of an evening having joke-laden, heart-to-heart chats.  It’s rich, honest dialogue!

Nora’s life is upended when a face from the past reaches out.  She grew up in South Korea before emigrating with her family to Canada as a 12-year-old.  Just prior to the move, she developed her first crush on Hae Sung (Yoo), a shy boy from the neighbourhood.  It’s a connection which still resonates.  Despite not having seen each other in person for over two decades, the unmarried Hae Sung has decided to visit the United States for the first time and is keen to spend time with the girl, now woman, he has never forgotten.

The pair spend a couple of days together exploring New York City with Nora playing host and showing Hae Sung popular landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and Jane’s Carousel.  Their slightly awkward interactions provide the film’s heart and soul.  It’s like Sliding Doors but without the visualisation.  There’s a clear bond between the pair which has them, and us, wondering about what life might have been like if Nora had not left South Korea as a youngster.  Would they have ended up together?  Or was it just a fleeting childhood infatuation?  It also taps into the theme about the way we “clutch onto” events from our past and look at them through different lenses over time.

Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Celine Song, Past Lives has been touted as an awards season contender since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2023.  The hype is justified.  It’s a beautiful drama which highlights both the simplicity and complexity of the human condition.  Feelings are instinctive but the way we then deal with those feelings is fraught with possibilities and challenges.

Greta Lee (Russian Doll) and Teo Yoo (Leto) are brilliant as Nora and Hae Song.  They have created interesting characters where, despite their intelligence, neither is fully in control of their emotions as the interactions progress.  Song adds to the film’s intimate feel with a guitar-laden soundtrack, and the use of long, unedited takes during key conversations.  As highlighted by the film’s unforgettable final scene, the streets of Manhattan also have a part to play in enhancing the material.

Past Lives is not to be missed.

You can read my chat with director Celine Song by clicking here.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 04 September 2023

We had three live action movies between 1990 and 1993, then we had a one-off animated feature in 2007, then we had a franchise reboot with films in 2014 and 2016, and now the reboot button has been pressed once more.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem takes us back to the beginning.  It shows us (again) how they came into existence (fluorescent green ooze) before pitting them against a nasty adversary intent on destroying the world.

Just like a revived Broadway play/musical, director Jeff Rowe didn’t want this to be a slavish remake.  For starters, it has a fresh visual footprint in the same vein as the recent Into the Spider-Verse series.  The concept was to make it look like it had been drawn by amateurish teenagers with “weird shapes and bad perspectives.”  While there’s nothing wrong with the alternative (animated features striving for perfection with rich detail), it’s nice to look at something distinctively different.

The casting is another talking point.  This is the first time a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie uses actual teenagers to voice the title characters.  Rowe also made the wise decision to bring the four actors together and record the dialogue in a single sound studio (unusual for the genre).  This provided them with more freedom to go “off script” and talk over the top of each other.  It adds up to performances which are fun, realistic, and organic (feels weird saying that about a talking turtle flick).

There are two key cast members with voices you will recognise.  69-year-old Jackie Chan (Rush Hour) brings his comedic personality to the character of Splinter, the mutant rat who becomes a father figure to the turtles.  The other is Ice Cube (21 Jump Street) who entertains as Super Fly, a feverish villain who sees humans as the enemy and wants them all to become fellow mutants like him.  The likes of Maya Rudolph, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Rose Byrne, Paul Rudd and Post Malone also pop up with small roles.

I liked this more than expected.  The painting-like animation is a big plus but the screenplay is a winner too.  Characters have nuance and to use Splinter as an example, he’s unnecessarily overprotective (“humans are the demon scum of the Earth”) and yet willing to put his life on the line to save his family when required.  The educative interaction between the four turtles and their first non-mutant friend, April O’Neill (Edebiri), creates opportunity for humour as their eyes are opened to different worlds.  The writers have also thrown in several amusing pop culture references which show the target audience is as much adults as it is children.

The action is a too chaotic in places, particularly during the finale, but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem takes chances and is rewarded.