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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 30 September 2015

Ben Whittaker (DeNiro) is a 70-year-old retiree from New York who has a self-described “hole in his life” that he’s looking to fill.  His wife passed away 3 years ago and since that time, he’s done everything he can to keep himself busy and occupied.  He’s travelled the world, played golf, read books, watched movies, and cooked great meals.  He’s also attended his fair share of funerals – a downside of having so many elderly friends.

Unfortunately for Ben, all of that isn’t enough.  Retirement isn’t what he expected.  He misses the friendships and general interaction that come with a vibrant workplace.  Inspired by a flyer he comes across, Ben decides to re-enter the workforce and applies to be a “senior intern” for About The Fit, an online clothing store based in Brooklyn.  After an unorthodox interview process conducted by a bunch of twenty-something year olds (who make up most of the company), he’s told that he got the position.

A running theme throughout much of the film is the difference between “old school” and “new school”.  Ben dresses in a suit and tie (complete with a handkerchief in his pocket) while the others dress casually with their shirts untucked.  Ben works by set hours whereas the others drift in and out of the office.  Ben carries an old briefcase while the others carry around iPads and iPhones.

Writer-director Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give, It’s Complicated) isn’t trying to say that one way is better than the other.  Rather, she’s highlighting that it’s very easy to bridge the generational gap.  Ben learns how to use the latest technology and appreciates the value of open plan offices.  His co-workers get to benefit from his vast experience when it comes to style, romance and chivalry.  His business skills are also of great use.

This is the best thing Robert DeNiro has done in more than a decade.  He has created a sweet, calm, level-headed character who is immensely likeable.  He reminds me of those who spend years of their lives volunteering for charities and sporting organisations.  They’re not doing it for the money or because they’re career driven.  They do it for the love of helping out, interacting with others, and making a small difference.  That seems to be Ben’s philosophy throughout his internship.  He goes home at night with the confidence that he’s still of value to others.

The other key player in this piece is Jules Ostin (Hathaway), the young founder and CEO of About The Fit.  She started the company from scratch but it now struggling to deal with shipping and customer satisfaction issues as it goes through a period of rampant growth.  The venture capitalist investors are keen to recruit a more experienced CEO to help lessen her heavy workload but Jules loves her work and is reluctant to give up control.

Jules is not as easy to like.  She’s determined and well-intentioned.  She is also to be admired for taking a simple idea and turning it into a full-blown business with more than 200 employees.  On the flip side, she struggles with delegation and over commitment.  She has created a life where she can’t devote sufficient time to her staff and family.  This has led to relationship issues at home and reputational issues at work.  There are times when she’s her own worst enemy.

The friendship that develops between Ben and Jules is the film’s heart and soul.  They share some great conversations as Ben tries to size up each difficult situation and subtly steer Jules in the right direction.  There are some silly, unnecessary interludes (e.g. a plot to delete an accidental email) and a few elements are over-simplified but The Intern is still a winner.  In addition to some great laughs, Nancy Meyers has provided much to ponder when it comes to management styles and workplace demographics.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 18 September 2015

J.M. Barrie’s much loved work, Peter Pan, has been adapted in multiple forms on multiple occasions.  An animated feature was produced by Walt Disney in 1953.  A live-action sequel was directed by Steven Spielberg in 1991 (Hook).  A Tony Award winning musical was first performed on Broadway in 1954.  A 65 episode animated television series first aired in 1990 (Peter Pan and the Pirates).  Even video games have been released for Nintendo, Sega and PlayStation consoles.

The latest filmmakers to etch their names on the Peter Pan honour roll are English director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) and American screenwriter Jason Fuchs (Ice Age: Continental Drift).  They’ve tried to put a fresh spin on Barrie’s material by creating a prequel.  We’re told by the narrator during the opening scene that “this isn’t the story you’ve heard before.”

When we first meet Peter (Miller), he’s a mischievous 12-year-old living in a British orphanage.  It’s where he was left by his mother when just a baby.  His life is now controlled by a group of Catholic nuns who would be better suited as villains in a James Bond movie.  They’re rude, strict and horribly unpleasant.

Late one night, Peter and his fellow orphans are whisked away by a large flying pirate ship.  They are transported to Neverland and are introduced to Blackbeard (Jackman) – “the pirate that all pirates fear.”  Neverland isn’t the nicest of places.  As the ruling dictator, Blackbeard has effectively enslaved the children and put them to work in the pixie dust mines.  He offers “no mercy, no pity, and no second chances.”

Unfortunately for Blackbeard, his days are numbered.  A well-known prophecy tells of an uprising that will be spearheaded by “a boy who could fly”.  That’s where Peter comes into the frame.  He’s unsure about his newfound flying abilities and doesn’t really see himself as a hero… but Peter will be guided by an assortment of new friends including James Hook (Hedlund) and Tiger Lily (Mara).

There’s no question that Pan is trying to offer something a little bit different.  Joe Wright’s over-the-top use of colour in Neverland gives the film an impressive visual style that should charm adolescent audiences.  He’s taken it to a level where even the gunpowder looks like it’s been crafted from a rainbow.  It’s an appropriate contrast from the dark, grim orphanage back home.  Wright’s use of music will also surprise.  If you think that a Nirvana song has no place in a Peter Pan movie then think again.

Performance wise, the big winner of the film is 12-year-old Levi Miller who charms in the title role.  After scouring the globe for the actor with the ideal blend of talent and innocence, Wright found Miller right here in Brisbane, Australia.  We’ll be seeing a lot more of him on screen (including in the Red Dog sequel due for release next year).

Hugh Jackman, after years of playing heroes, has fun slipping into the shoes (and wig) of a bad guy.  He’s created an unsettling, contradictory character who is forever changing personalities.  This is best evidenced in a scene where he meets Peter for the first time.  Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy) and Rooney Mara (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) add to the film’s star power but have drawn the short straw in terms of rousing dialogue.

Pan is clearly targeted at a younger crowd.  Kids can picture themselves as Peter Pan and lose themselves in this cool fantasy world.  They may find some of the action sequences too convoluted (such as the climax with the flying pirate ships) but the rest is relatively easy to follow.  As for full-price paying adults, well, they can please themselves.

You can read my chat with star Hugh Jackman by clicking here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 29 September 2015

The “leave no man behind” message has been explored in countless movies.  Brave individuals are prepared to risk their lives to save fellow soldiers (Saving Private Ryan), diplomats (Argo), hostages (Die Hard), and politicians (Air Force One).  Director Ridley Scott is no stranger to the subject.  The tagline of his great 2001 war drama Black Hawk Down was exactly that – “leave no man behind”.

Using the updated tagline of “bring him home”, Scott has tried to take rescue movies to a new level with The Martian.  Mark Watney (Damon) is a middle aged botanist who isn’t stuck in a building… or in a plane… or in another country.  He’s trapped on another planet that is located more than 50 million kilometres from our own.

If this was a Star Trek film, Mark would be saved in the blink of an eye.  Captain Jean-Luc Picard could fire up a starship and shout “Warp One, Engage!”  Unfortunately, this is set in a more current timeframe where it takes close to a year for a spacecraft to travel between the two planets.  The cost of such a mission would also be running into the billions of dollars.

To back up slightly, the reason Mark is stuck on Mars is because he was part of a 6-person crew who were visiting the planet to collect important samples.  Only 5 of them made the return trip.  During a savage dust storm, Mark was struck by flying debris, became separated from his astronauts and was presumed dead.  NASA held a media conference advising of the news and a funeral was held soon after.

The Martian is largely told from two perspectives.  Firstly, we’re following Mark Watney on Mars.  He’s a sharp guy and knows there are four necessities he needs to secure for his survival – food, water, air and shelter.  He also needs to find a means of communication.  The research lab’s satellite was damaged during the storm and he has no way of telling NASA that he’s still alive.

The other perspective is that from Earth.  Once NASA realise that Mark survived the storm, there are numerous questions that need to be answered.  Can he be rescued?  How long would it take?  Is it worth the cost?  Should his crew members (already half way back to Earth) be told?  Those most involved in the discussions are NASA head Teddy Sanders (Daniels), mission director Vincent Kapoor (Ejiofor) and media liaison Annie Montrose (Wiig).

It should hold you attention all the way through but The Martian contains too much science and not enough tension.  A number of obstacles are thrown in Mark’s way and we watch as he uses his broad knowledge to overcome them.  It’s very technical and I didn’t understand what he was doing half the time… but I went along with it anyway.  Mark is the master of taking ordinary/broken objects and turning them into something useful.  He also does it with a relaxed attitude and a hatred for disco music.

Based on the 2011 science fiction novel by Andy Weir, screenwriter Drew Goddard (Cloverfield, The Cabin In The Woods) has struggled to condense its wide breadth into a 141 minute movie.  Several parts are rushed – an inevitable problem with having so many characters and subplots.

A young astrophysicist (played by Donald Glover) pops out of nowhere with a cool solution to a problem.  An astronaut is berated by his wife for accepting a lengthy mission and is forgiven seconds later.  A sudden deal is made with the China National Space Administration.  Crowds in Time Square look on as rescue events unfold.  Without the time to develop these subplots in more detail, it all feels too simple, too easy.

The Martian is offering light entertainment (e.g. Independence Day) as opposed to an edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller (e.g. Gravity).  That’s not necessarily a bad thing… but I was expecting something with a bigger emotional punch given the premise. 

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 16 September 2015

I’ve got some good friends who regularly post inspirational quotes on social media.  They say stuff like “it never gets easier, you just get stronger” and “dream it, believe it, achieve it.”  Movies often promote the same messages.  We watch people go from loser to winner, from rags to riches, and from villain to hero.  It’s seldom the other way round.  We much prefer feel-good tales that leave us feeling positive about life.

There’s nothing wrong with that mantra… but it’s not always a reflection of reality.  That is best illustrated in Everest which chronicles the true story of a group of climbers who tried to reach the peak of the world’s highest mountain in May 1996.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to conquer Mount Everest in 1953. In the decades that followed, only well-experienced climbers tried to match their achievement.  That changed in the early 1990s when climbing became a more commercial enterprise.  An increasing number of tour companies were accepting large sums of money to help ordinary folk reach Everest’s summit.

There’s an important moment early in the film where these climbers are asked about their motivations.  Their answers are not unexpected.  Why would someone buy a 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzle instead of one with 500 pieces?   Why do we attempt the hard Sudoku problem instead of the easy one?  It comes back to what makes us human.  Many of us love a challenge and the thrill that it provides once achieved.  Oh, and I guess climbing Everest is a great story that you can tell the grandkids about one day.

Crafted by screenwriters William Nicholson (Gladiator) and Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), this film is centred around Rob Hall (Clarke) – the head of a New Zealand based company that has been leading successful Everest tours for the last few years.  The group he’s helping this year include a journalist, a mailman and a wealthy doctor.

The first half of the movie is relatively smooth sailing.  We watch them go through their training regime and appreciate the difficulty of the task.  Even with a lengthy period of acclimatisation, most will still require oxygen tanks when trekking at high altitudes.  Perhaps the biggest determinant of success is the weather.  You’re no chance without calm conditions.

I don’t want to give too much away but suffice to say that not all of these characters are going to make it to the end of the movie.  This isn’t one of the aforementioned feel-good tales.  It doesn’t make a difference how confident or how experienced you are… there are times when nature is always going to prove too strong for man.  It’s a fact that we often ignore or forget.

It’ll be up to audiences to judge their exploits.  Were they just unlucky in their pursuit of adventure?  Or were they foolish in biting off more than they could chew?  There’s plenty to think about here and it’s more than just a run-of-the-mill action film.  That said, the action is still very good.  Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur (Contraband) used high altitude locations in Nepal and Italy to re-create the Everest experience.  The intense sound of the ferocious winds adds an equally important layer in helping put the audience in the shoes of these hikers.

It was never going to be easy given the large cast but the character development is underdone.  It’s hard to sympathise with a doomed hiker when we know so little about them.  Some of them only get a few lines of dialogue.  Keira Knightley and Robin Wright are added to show the thoughts of “worried wives” back home but again, these scenes are short and clunky.

Above all else, Everest shows that you can dream and believe… but you’re not always going to achieve.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 21 September 2015

15-year-old Becca (DeJonge) and 13-year-old Tyler (Oxenbould) will be spending a week with their grandparents while their mother (Hahn) and her new partner take a well-overdue holiday.  It may sound like a common scenario but this is anything but.  Becca and Tyler have never met their “Nana” and “Pop Pop” before.  Their mother had a falling out with them 15 years ago for reasons she has kept quiet.  The grandparents have finally reached out in search of a fresh start and their mother has extended the olive branch.

They catch a train from suburban Philadelphia to rural Pennsylvania and are greeted by their grandparents (played by Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie) at the station.  It’s a slightly awkward exchange but you’d expect that given the circumstances.  Nana is quick to criticise Tyler for wearing his parents too low – an obvious way of highlighting the generational gap between them.

Everything we see in the film is from the perspective of the two teenagers.  Becca is a budding filmmaker and so she is capturing the whole weekend on her hand held video cameras.  Tyler is helping out.  She wants to turn it into a documentary that explores her grandparents past and the reasons why they’ve never seen their grandchildren until now.

From their first night in the house, Becca and Tyler sense something is amiss.  They are told that they need to be in bed by 9:30pm and that they shouldn’t venture out from their bedroom until the following morning.  After hearing strange noises, curiosity gets the better of them.  They open their bedroom door and see their naked grandmother wandering through the house and furiously scratching the walls.  It’s quite creepy.

The film marks a return to form for writer-director M. Night Shyamalan who rose to fame in 1999 with The Sixth Sense and followed that up with the equally impressive Unbreakable and Signs.  His recent efforts haven’t been well received.  The Last Airbender (2010) and After Earth (2013) were big studio movies with $100m budgets but both were savaged by critics and struggled at the box-office.

There are the few parts to The Visit that don’t quite gel.  For example, it’s hard to go along with the Paranormal Activity-like “handheld footage” approach, particularly in the later stages.  These kids are supposed to be scared.  Why are they still making their documentary and getting conveniently great camera angles?  Without giving away details, I’d also argue that the more you think about the finale, the less sense it makes.

I enjoyed the lead up through.  Shyamalan scoured the globe for the perfect young actors and found both of his two leads here in Australia – 17-year-old Olivia DeJonge from Perth and 14-year-old Ed Oxebould (Alexander & The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) from Sydney.  The film has the appearance of a scary thriller but it’s surprisingly comedic.  Oxenbould gets the best of lines including a recurring joke where he uses the names of female singers in place of swear words.

The ending will divide audiences but The Visit offers enough intrigue to warrant a trip to the cinemas.

You can read my chat with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan by clicking here.