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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 24 July 2023

South Australian-born brothers Danny and Michael Philippou have been making movies since they were pre-teens and in 2013, they found fame after launching a YouTube channel specialising in comedy, horror, and wacky stunts.  The channel currently has over 6 million followers and the videos have a combined viewing total exceeding 1 billion.

Inspired by an idea from Bluey creator Daley Pearson (who gets a screenwriting credit), Talk to Me is their first feature film and marks their leap into the movie industry.  It’s a low-budget horror-thriller filmed in Australia with a local cast and crew… but it has the potential to reach a worldwide audience.  In the same vein as the 2014 sleeper hit The Babadook, a film where both brothers served as production runners and lighting assistants, Talk to Me received great buzz out of the Sundance Film Festival and is being released broadly across the United States and Canada (more than 2,000 screens!).

The story is quite cool.  A group of teenagers have come into possession of a mysterious embalmed hand.  When you touch it and say the words “talk to me”, you are mentally teleported into the afterlife and connected with a single deceased individual.  The kids treat is as a party trick.  They get together at someone’s house and take turns grabbing the hand while friends humorously/naively film the experience on their smartphones.  You need to be careful not to hold on to the hand too long or else…

This film gets a lot of the little things right.  It doesn’t muck around with a time-wasting introduction where the teenagers discover the hand and can’t believe its existence.  It’s as if we’re entering the narrative at the start of the second act (big thumbs up) and that helps keep the running time to a tight 95 minutes.  As the most notable member of the cast, Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings) plays a mother – a humorous, no-nonsense, terrifically written character who easily sees through her children’s sneaky white lies.

There are deeper subplots involving the “users” and the people they seek to contact in the afterlife but, in avoiding spoilers, I’ll allow audiences to discover those details for themselves.  From the make-up… to the casting… to the camera movements, the Philippou brothers have crafted a movie which is both interesting and scary.  It’s nice to see a character-driven horror flick which doesn’t rely largely on gimmicky jolts and frights.

I’ve a few qualms about the finale (the ending doesn’t quite stick) but Talk to Me deserves to find an audience.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 11 July 2023

Two weeks ago, 80-year-old Harrison Ford stepped into the shoes of adventurer Indiana Jones. Now, we have 61-year-old Tom Cruise continuing the “age is no barrier” theme with action hero Ethan Hunt returning to the big screen.  Cruise is showing no signs of slowing down.  A second instalment (obvious since this is billed as “Part One”) will be released in June 2024 and he’s alluded in press interviews that the Mission: Impossible series may have life beyond that.

In keeping with his modus operandi, Cruise does his own stunts wherever possible and that’s again the case here.  It’s not necessary (talented doubles can achieve the same) but it does generate extra interest and publicity… and stress for the insurance company.  As revealed in the trailer, the big moment here sees Cruise drive a motorcycle off a Norwegian mountain cliff and into a foggy valley.  It took months of motocross and BASE jump training and on the day of the actual shoot, director Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) had an array of cameras and drones perfectly placed to capture every angle.

This won’t garner the same acclaim and wow-factor of Cruise’s last outing in Top Gun: Maverick but as the 7th entry in a franchise which began back in 1998, it’s worth the admission price. The narrative is simple, the action is impressive, and the cast make it fun.  Did it need to be a two-parter?  Probably not.  It feels like the split has been done to create more stunts as opposed to more story.  Where these characters are at by film’s end isn’t much different from where they were at the 30-minute mark.

We’re told the “stakes are higher than ever.”  An artificial intelligence device exists, referred to as The Entity, which is a self-aware, self-learning, truth-eating digital parasite.  It has the power to infiltrate any computer system and change data.  In the words of one character - “whoever controls The Entity controls the truth.”  Villainous folk want their hands on this weapon and it falls upon Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his behind-the-scenes crew from the IMF (the Impossible Mission Force as opposed to the International Monetary Fund) to stop them. Their assignment is to locate a missing key which has a role to play in deactivating The Entity.

Just like a game of Snakes & Ladders, our heroes go through an array of ups and downs.  One minute they have the upper hand… and the next minute they don’t.  It’s a repeating formula across the lengthy 163 running time to build suspense and keep audiences on their toes.  There’s running, punching, driving, pick pocketing, impersonating, and sleuthing.  It’s all done with a neat balance of drama and comedy – the characters maintain their intensity while slipping in the odd joke to highlight the farcical nature of their situation and surroundings.

I grew weary of the slightly repetitive chase for the mysterious key (I’d like a count on how many times the word “key” is said) and wished the plot advanced further but this is still an above average, well-polished action piece.  If you disagree, this review will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 July 2023

Over the past two decades, writer-director Christopher Nolan’s brand has been fast, loud, high-octane action-thrillers.  Rightly or wrongly, he’s become one of only filmmakers in the industry consistently entrusted with big budgets for non-franchise projects.  The critical and commercial success of The Dark Knight trilogy allowed him to make Inception, Interstellar and Tenet – three original, mind-twisting adventures that warrant multiple viewings.

Oppenheimer represents a slight pivot for Nolan.  He’s taking his well-established style (fast-paced editing, loud music score) and inserting it into an unexpected genre – the biopic.  The idea took shape while making Tenet (there’s even a line in that movie about the atom bomb), and it prompted Nolan to read American Prometheus, a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning biography authored by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.  That became the source material for this 180-minute epic.

47-year-old Cillian Murphy is an accomplished actor with many great credits under his belt (28 Days Later, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Peaky Blinders) but I’ll argue this is the best performance of his career.  In a cast which features almost every actor in Hollywood (you’ve got Oscar winners making 2-minute cameos), Murphy takes the lead role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American physicist who led the creation of the first atomic bomb during the early 1940s.

Mimicking the look and mannerisms of Oppenheimer with precision, Murphy expertly fleshes out the nuance of the incredibly complex character.  There is a fleeting moment of levity where a U.S. Army General (Damon) describes him as an unstable, theatrical, neurotic, womanizing dilettante – adjectives which Oppenheimer doesn’t disagree with.  On the flip side, we also see him as an intelligent, open, ethical, communicative, calculating, softly spoken scientist who often puts the consideration of others ahead of his own.  It’s rare for a biopic to capture so many competing angles of a single individual.

Nolan likes to play with time, and he does so again here with interwoven timelines.  The more significant focus is Oppenheimer’s early education and ultimate involvement in the atom bomb’s creation at a secret military site in New Mexico.  The other key narrative concerns Oppenheimer’s under-attack reputation in the aftermath of World War II, and his connection with an influential businessman (Downey Jr) who headed the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

The production values are extraordinary.  Editor Jennifer Lane (Manchester by the Sea) establishes a frenetic pace and maintains it throughout (there’s hardly time for characters to take a breath).  Oscar winning composer Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther) has created an intense, bombastic music score which fits every emotional beat.  Not wanting to rely on special effects (there isn’t a single CGI shot in the whole movie), Nolan re-created the atom bomb test using a combination of gasoline, propane, aluminium powder, and magnesium (it’s one of the quietest scenes in the whole movie – very cool!)

Offering up an unforgettable, thought-provoking punchline, Oppenheimer will be spoken about for a long time.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 June 2023

Hollywood can pour more than $100 million into an epic blockbuster but Driving Madeleine reminds us that when it comes to great cinema, the simplest ideas are often the most effective.  It’s the tale of a frustrated 46-year-old taxi driver (Boon), Charles, who picks up a 92-year-old passenger (Renaud), Madeleine, and drives her across Paris to an aged care facility she’s about to move into to.

The trip takes several hours (the lucrative fare is why Charles took the job) and there are a few unexpected detours along the way.  Realising it could be one of her last opportunities to see the Parisian sites, Madeleine asks to visit key locations which hold vivid memories.  As they drive from place to place, Madeleine details her backstory and explains why these sites hold such personal significance.  Charles is nonplussed at first (he has other dramas in his life) but is soon riveted by his passenger’s extraordinary tales.

My succinct plot overview doesn’t do justice to the film’s emotional alure.  Yes, most of it takes place in a taxi but, through the power of insightful conversation, we get to know these two characters in extraordinary depth.  It’s amazing how much director Christian Carion achieves in just 91 minutes.  Well-timed flashbacks help break up the “taxi scenes” and provide a visual representation of Madeleine’s earlier years.  There are moments of blissful happiness and moments of confronting tragedy.

94-year-old French actress Line Renaud has been appearing in movies since the 1940s.  You’d be hard pressed to find another performance this year underwritten by more experience!  Renaud brings the right personality to Madeleine – cheeky, reflective, and sympathetic (amongst other things).  As if going through the same transformation as Charles, the feelings we have for Madeleine as she exits the taxi are deeper and more considered as when she first entered.  Renaud deserves credit but so too does co-star Dany Boon (Welcome to the Sticks) who makes for an ideal companion.

Director Christian Carion is best known for his 2005 effort, Joyeux Noël, which earned an Academy Award nomination for best international feature film (losing to Tsotsi).  He’s made six films since but this is the first to be released in Australian cinemas (outside of film festivals) in over a decade.  Painting an uplifting picture of Paris and its people, Driving Madeleine is a memorable experience.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 19 July 2023

There are signs of fatigue but we’re still living in an era where major Hollywood studios are playing it safe by banking on sequels, reboots, and established universes.  In 2022, the top 10 movies at the U.S. box-office all fit into that description (Elvis was the highest grossing original film in 12^th place).  Barbie looks set to break that trend in 2023.  Helped by a relentless marketing campaign, the box-office predictions are strong and it’s on track to be an “original” hit.  Regardless of what you think of the movie, that itself is worthy of applause.

Directed by the accomplished Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women), Barbie reminds of me a bright, colourful, entertaining Broadway musical.  Using a mix of humour, dance, music, and over-the-top acting, Gerwig provides us with a fun two-hours where the purpose of every scene is to surprise, dazzle and entertain audiences.  There’s seldom a dull moment.

I’m stunned Mattel signed off on the screenplay… but glad they did.  It’s a self-aware storyline spread across two universes.  The first is Barbieland – an idyllic place where women have priority.  There’s a female president, an all-female Supreme Court, and issues like gender equality are never spoken of.  The landscape, from the housing to the clothing, are dominated by 10,000 shades of pink, and everyone walks around in a Groundhog Day-like state of blissful happiness.  It’s also worth mentioning that every woman is called Barbie and every man is called Ken (creating opportunity for humour which extends until the closing credits).

The other universe is the Real World.  There, a group of profit-driven men led by the CEO sit around a heart-shaped table on the top floor of Mattel headquarters in Los Angeles wondering how to sell more Barbie dolls and improve their bottom line.  Just outside the boardroom is Gloria (Ferrera), a hard-working toy designer who, influenced by a semi mid-life crisis, is starting to pencil some “darker” Barbie designs.

In the same vein as Gary Ross’ must-see 1998 comedy Pleasantville, there is a rip in the “continuum” which allows characters to travel between the two worlds.  It allows Stereotypical Barbie (Robbie) to see the pros and cons of a more realistic world, but the broader character arc belongs to Ryan Gosling who, as the ab-displaying Ken, is transformed from a submissive accessory into a quasi-villain exploring the idea of patriarchy.

A few characters are undercooked – Ariana Greenblatt as a teenager, Will Ferrell as the Mattel CEO, Michael Cera as a life-finding Allan – but Barbie is a fun journey from start to finish.  Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) spread the jokes far and wide.  Some of it is simple – like the way no liquids exist in Barbieland because that’s how toys are – and some of it is edgy – the background to Rhea Perlman’s character, and Margot Robbie’s final spoken line.

It’s not often I get to say this…. but Barbie is a creative Hollywood blockbuster which stands out from the pack.  Bravo!