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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 12 April 2022

The Goya Awards celebrate the best of Spanish cinema and previous recipients of the best film prize have included The Others, The Sea Inside, Volver, Truman, and Pain and Glory.  This year’s champ was The Good Boss, taking home six awards including best film, best director, best original screenplay and best actor.  It was also submitted as Spain’s entrant for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards but missed out on a nomination.

The acclaim is deserving.  The narrative is centred on Julio Blanco (Bardem), a wealthy business owner from a small Spanish town who specialises in making scales.  He’s the kind of person who projects a likeable, loveable image… but you’re never quite sure how much is the “real” Julio.  Does he truly value all the hard work put in by his loyal employees?  Or is it all just a ruse to keep them happy while he exploits and gets rich off their efforts?

Set over the course of a week, The Good Boss is centred around Julio’s attempts to win a major government business award.  He’s been shortlisted alongside two others and they will each be visited by a judging panel.  As evidenced by his very visible “trophy wall” at home, it’s clear Julio likes public recognition and being seen as a winner.  This is another chance to satisfy his huge ego and show others just how good he is.

To provide the film’s laughs, a series of bubbling issues rise to the surface and threaten to derail Julio’s dreams.  A sacked employee sets up camp outside the factory’s front entrance and demands reinstatement.  A long-time manager, impacted by marital issues, makes a series of mistakes which halt production.  A marketing intern finds herself in an unexpected position of power which she is keen to use to significant advantage.  Can Julio find enough metaphorical sticky-tape to hold his business together before the judges arrive?

Two people are heavily responsible for this film’s success.  The first is writer-director Fernando León de Aranoa (Mondays in the Sun) who has crafted exquisite jokes.  A great example is a long-set up gag involving Julio’s wife’s forgetful nature.  Also, without giving too much away, Aranoa isn’t afraid to shock audiences and push things into a wickedly darker direction as part of the film’s later half.  The final scene is a cracker!

The second person deserving credit is versatile star Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) who is sensational in the lead role.  He straddles the fence and has created a scheming character who you will like and loathe in similar doses.  It’s great to see Bardem in such a richly comedic role and he schmoozes the audience in the same way he does those around him within the film. 

Offering its fair share of laugh out loud moments (there were plenty at the preview screening I attended), The Good Boss is a humorous delight.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 04 April 2022

“People still rob banks?”  It’s a question asked half-way through Ambulance and it alludes to this movie being part action, part spoof.  The scenario we see played out here isn’t very realistic… but a flick about an elaborate, in-person bank heist, complete with a big shootout, is more likely to get the attention of action fans than something involving cybercrime and money laundering (more common today).

Not much nuance has gone into the screenplay.  Will Sharp (Abdul-Mateen II) is a “good guy” getting screwed over by health insurance companies who won’t stump up $231,000 for experimental surgery to help his ailing wife (Ingram).  With seemingly no other opinions, he reaches out to his estranged criminal stepbrother, Danny (Gyllenhaal), who conveniently needs an extra accomplice to help steal $32 million from a bank in central Los Angeles.

They’re doomed from the start but that’s largely their own doing.  Bringing in a new man just 5 minutes before walking out the door and putting plans into action… yeah, not the best idea.  Danny isn’t a great judge of character either.  The crew seem woefully underprepared to the point where one of them is wearing Birkenstocks.  They’re not the slick, sharp, shrewd group we saw in Michael Mann’s epic heist film, Heat.

The robbery goes poorly (no surprise there) and what follows is a 90-minute car chase where Will and Danny have commandeered an ambulance and drive through the packed streets of Los Angeles trying to evade the authorities.  In the back are two people they’ve kidnapped – a seriously wounded police officer they “inadvertently” shot (he’s just three months out of the Academy!) and a skilled, emotion-supressing paramedic (González) who rubs people up the wrong way (“no one wants to be your partner”).

The character development isn’t great and the moralistic, semi-redemptive arc provided to Danny is difficult to swallow.  It’s reminiscent of the Fast & Furious franchise in that it’s pushing “stick together” and “do it for the family” type themes.  People are in perilous, life-threatening situations and still have time for laughs and deep, meaningful conversations.

All of that said, this latest effort from Michael Bay (Bad Boys, Transformers) doesn’t ask you to take it seriously.  It even makes humorous reference to a past Bay film starring Nicolas Cage!  Ambulance warrants your attention because of its extreme, adrenalin-pumping car chases.  A great example is a creative scene where the paramedic performs open heart surgery with the help of Facetime on a phone with low battery while travelling at 60 miles an hour.

There’s decent tension in the film too.  From the initial robbery to the long pursuit, writer Chris Fedak (Chuck) finds enough twists and turns to keep audiences engaged.  Showing events from the perspective of both the escaping criminals and the hunting authorities also adds to interest levels.  Praise needs to go the way of two-time Oscar winning editor Pietro Scalia (JFK, Black Hawk Down) in weaving all the footage together in a way that feels hectic but still easy to follow.

A remake of a Danish film released in 2005, Ambulance has its issues but it’s still an energising entry to the action genre.

You can read my chat with director Michael Bay by clicking here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 11 April 2022

Over the past decade, there have been few major blockbusters to come out of Hollywood with as much ambition as Cloud Atlas.  The 172-minute epic, with a budget of over $100 million, featured six overlapping stories spread across five centuries with 13 featured actors playing 61 different characters.  Whether you liked it or not, you had to admire the risks taken by the three directors in giving us something so original and unexpected.  The key message – “everything is connected”.

I got that same vibe, in terms of both style and themes, from the craftily titled Everything Everywhere All at Once.  It’s a rich, wonderful, audacious project that will energize audiences like a cool breeze on a hot summer day.  There’s a lot going on (multiple viewings will help) but even if you can’t follow it all, you’ll still be swept up by its charm and vision.

To do my best to explain… let’s describe it as Sliding Doors on steroids.  In that Gwyneth Paltrow-led drama, we follow two alternate timelines – one where she catches her train on time, and one where she misses it.  Everything Everywhere All at Once sells an idea where that happens each time we make an important decision in our lives.  The end result is a seemingly infinite number of worlds, referred to as the “multiverse”, that feature a different version of us all.  It’s a lot to think about!

Front and centre throughout the film is Evelyn Wang (Yeoh), a Chinese-American woman who runs a small laundromat with her husband (Quan) in Los Angeles.  Her life is chaotic mess… but that’s largely her own doing.  She spends so much time fussing about minor, unnecessary things that she hasn’t noticed the deterioration in the relationships with her husband (Quan), teenage daughter (Hsu), and visiting father (Hong).  To further add to stress levels, an overeager auditor (Curtis) is putting her business through a rigorous tax audit.

All these issues are brushed aside when Evelyn is contacted by an alternate version of her husband and told she is the key to saving the multiverse from destruction.  She travels to other worlds, collects skills from “herself”, and uses them to defeat villainous beings.  Oh, there’s also raccoons, bagels and phallic trophies.  No review can fully encapsulate the many quirks and surprises!

Everything Everywhere All at Once sprung from the mind of the two writer-directors, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who identify themselves collectively as “Daniels”.  It’s one thing to come up with great ideas in pre-production but to execute them as precisely as they’ve done here… it’s an incredible achievement.  The continual movement between worlds is beautifully illustrated thanks to the perfect blend of cinematography, editing and visual effects.

The film also provides the “role of a lifetime” to its star, Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Crazy Rich Asians).  She gets the chance to play a forever changing character who niftily demonstrates almost every human emotion.  She also creates someone worth caring deeply about.  While much of the film is insane and bat-shit crazy (hot-dog fingers, anyone?), the touching finale offers heartfelt joy and significant life lessons.

We’re only 3 ½ months into 2022 but it’s safe to say Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the year’s best and most original feature films.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 31 March 2022

Don’t judge a book by its cover.  It’s a message that’s pushed very, very, very strongly in The Bad Guys, the latest animated feature from Dreamworks.  Those looking for nuance will be disappointed but, given this is targeted largely at kids, the focus is on a simple storyline with cute, fun characters.  It’s like a Looney Tunes cartoon except with better production values.

We meet these “bad guys” in a quick-paced introduction.  Wolf (Rockwell) is their cunning leader, Snake (Maron) is a master safe-cracker, Tarantula (Awkwafina) is a renowned computer hacker, Shark (Robinson) is a master of disguise, and Piranha (Ramos) is willing to fight anyone.  Not afraid to rob a bank or steal precious artifacts, they’re described as the “most diabolical criminals of our time” and they wear it like a badge of honour.  To use Wolf’s own words – “we may be bad… but we’re so good at it.”

The argument put forward is these five characters are bad… because that’s what society expects of them.  People are naturally afraid of wolves, snakes, spiders, sharks, and piranhas and so they never had a chance to begin with.  What if there was a way to break the stereotype, give them a fresh start, and turn them into “good guys”?

The team is arrested after a botched robbery at the aptly titled Gala for Goodness and they’re fortunately provided a rehabilitation opportunity by the generous governor.  Instead of sending them to the slammer, she hands them over to the much-loved guinea pig, Professor Marmalade (Ayoade), who will put them through a series of tests and make them better creatures.  He’s out to prove there’s a little bit of good in all of us.

As the central figure, Wolf seems to be channelling the mantra of Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.  You never know which side he’s playing (sometimes he doesn’t know either) and he continually changes his persona to fit each situation.  Does he truly want to be good?  Or is it all part of the “most relaxing con ever”?  His views are sharpened during a predictable, semi-rushed finale.

There’s a local connection with the movie based on a children’s book series first released by Australian author Aaron Blabey in 2015.  He’s now published more than a dozen books about these characters which highlights their popularity around the world.  Websites state a recommended reading age of 6-12 years old which fits with what we see on screen.

Production values are strong and it’s easy to see kids engaging with these villains-turned-heroes.  The voices have been astutely selected with the distinctive Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina and Richard Ayoade standing out as the best of the bunch.  Alex Borstein also rates a mention as the city’s emotional police chief. 

I’d have preferred a narrative with more complexity but The Bad Guys knows its audience and knows what it’s trying to sell.  One for the kids.

You can read my chat with the book's author, Aaron Blabey, by clicking here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 06 April 2022

The Harry Potter wizarding universe is at an interesting point for Warner Bros. Pictures.  The first eight movies, all adapted from J.K. Rowling’s immensely popular books, were a box-office sensation.  That timeline culminated in 2011 with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 which generated $1.34 billion in global ticket sales and became, at that moment, the 3^rd highest grossing movie of all time.

Rowling was then engaged to create a five-film prequel series which focused on key wizarding events in the first half of the 20^th Century.  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released in 2016 and was followed by Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald.  The later made just $655 million at the global box-office (down $160 million on the previous film) and represented the lowest take in the franchise to date.  Reviews, from both critics and the public, weren’t great either.

For Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, a significant change has been made to the cast.  Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round) convincing steps into the shoes of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.  Johnny Depp, who appeared in the last two movies, was asked to “resign” in November 2020 after a British court ruled, to a civil standard, that he had physically assaulted his ex-wife, Amber Heard.  Also noticeable is the near-complete absence of Katherine’s Waterston’s previously prominent character, Tina Goldstein.  Reasons are given in the film for her relegation but they’re flimsy.

Uncannily predicting recent events in the United States, this new instalment is centred on the villainous Grindelwald and his attempts to rig an important wizard election.  He’s still trying to create a world where magical folk are in charge and humans are treated like second-rate citizens.  Our beloved heroes, guided by the astute Albus Dumbledore (Law), each have a part to play in saving democracy and ensuring Grindlewald isn’t falsely elected.

By a narrow margin, this is the best of the three Fantastic Beasts movies.  The story is easier to follow, there’s a better blend of comedy and drama, and Mikkelsen creates a worthy villain worth rooting against.  The use of magic is always opportune but it’s still nice to see it illustrated – whether it be as simple as a floating teacup… or as complicated as an eternal blood pact.  It’s also cool to return to Hogwarts, albeit briefly, to the backdrop of John Williams’ iconic theme.

That’s not to say there aren’t an equal number of weaknesses.  For a film which is 142 minutes long, it’s not offering much in terms of narrative and character advancement.  It reminds me of a television soapie where they create a key storyline and drag it out for weeks and weeks.  Where these characters finish up at the end of the movie isn’t all that different from where they were at the start of the movie.  It needed more pace, more urgency.

Directed once again by David Yates, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will be closely followed in this post-pandemic world to see if it can alleviate the franchise’s downward trend.  Is there enough interest in these characters to maintain interest for another two movies?  This movie is watchable, but unlike the early Daniel Radcliffe-helmed Harry Potter movies, I’m not sure it’s memorable.