GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN

This review was published in The West Australian dated April 15, 2017.

CONCERT
Cyndi Lauper and Blondie
Kings Park Day On The Green
Review Ray Chan

The crowds turned up early for this spectacle at Kings Park, but with all due respect to the opening acts of Alex Lahey and long-running Sydney band The Clouds, it was simply to snag a parking space and find the best seats possible on the picturesque grounds.

    Most were prepared to wait three hours before experiencing what they really came to see: the American dynamic duo of iconic band Blondie and wacky wild child Cyndi Lauper.

    Such was their influence on popular music that many of the 6000-strong audience flew in or drove up from regional areas to party with the city slickers, and they were not disappointed.

    The 71-year-old Deborah Harry got the main presentation under way with two early Blondie trademarks, One Way or Another and Hanging On The Telephone. Harry certainly doesn’t look her age, and did well to bop around and hold a tune, despite the occasional stumble.

    Interestingly, apart from Harry, two of the original band members were also present on stage: founding guitarist Chris Stein (who wrote many of Blondie’s hits) and the talented Clem Burke on drums.

    Blondie have never forgotten how they owe their fame to Australia, having been discovered while debuting In The Flesh on Countdown. The song was played against the backdrop of that TV performance, which portrayed a young Harry, Stein and Burke during their new wave era.

    The golden oldies flowed on, Harry not missing a beat on the lyrics to Rapture, one of the earliest rap tunes to make the charts, which then seamed into a surprise rendition of the Beastie Boys’ Fight For Your Right To Party.

    Interspersed with the familiar songs were six new ones from their soon-to-be-released album Pollinator, dedicated to the preservation of honey bees. Playing fresh songs can be a risky decision for any band, but the gamble paid off as the crowds showed appreciation and no signs of restlessness; indeed, a couple of the new offerings would make worthy additions to the Blondie catalogue of hits.

    The finale of Heart of Glass was a true highlight, prompting a racuous singalong, capped off by their rendition of Dreaming in the encore, and getting the fans well and truly buzzed up for the appearance of Lauper.

    It’s strange to think of the eccentric Queens-accented singer as anything more than the fresh-faced pop star with frizzy coloured hair who gave us the She’s So Unusual album, yet here she was in her 60s, belting out the songs in the characteristic high-pitched timbre that seemed unaffected by the years.

    It’s fair to say that while Blondie secured more chart hits overall but played only a smattering in their set, Lauper produced just about her entire repertoire of chart successes on the night, delighting one and all.

    From I Drove All Night and She Bop to Time After Time and True Colours, Lauper gave her all on each song, oft times messing with the arrangements to create a fresher sound, exemplified best on a showstopping version of Money Changes Everything. There was even the inclusion of the theme song from cult movie favourite The Goonies, which Lauper co-wrote.

    The artist also showcased her skills at tackling different genres by performing several numbers from her recent album of country covers, including Patsy Cline’s Walking After Midnight and Skeeter Davies’ End Of The World. But it’s the pop sound Lauper is most renowned for, and the song they all came to hear, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, was performed with suitable gusto, with thousands of happy little feet stamping their appreciation on the green.

    In short, while Blondie had the crowd in raptures, Lauper just wanted to have fun, both acts ensuring everyone went home on a high.

NEW LOOK FOR TALE AS OLD AS TIME

This review was published in The West Australian dated Mar 23, 2017.

MOVIE
Beauty and the Beast
Emma Watson, Dan Stewart
Director Bill Condon

Review Ray Chan

When Disney made a live action version of Alice in Wonderland in 2010, little did the studio realise the floodgates it would be opening.

    Since then, three more of its animated movies have made the transition – Malificent, Cinderella and Jungle Book – and the cinematic progression of these creations from one to the next has been clear to witness, as the waters were tested with original stories at first, to gradually incorporating various elements and music from the classic cartoons.

    With Beauty and the Beast, it seems the evolution has reached its final stage, with the movie basically a complete and faithful live action remake of its 1991 Oscar-nominated animated namesake.

    From Belle (Emma Watson)’s energetic walk through the village to Gaston’s amusing narcissistic ode, from the show-stopping dinner table theatrics to the moving ballads of love, all the musical sequences audiences have associated and loved with the feature are included, and performed with grandiose, gusto and grace. 

    The film is also embellished with some extra insight into various characters, in particular Belle’s father, played by Kevin Kline, whose character is fleshed out with an interesting backstory that adds some drama to the fairy tale. Josh Gad endears himself to the audience as Gaston’s sidekick LeFou, who, as everyone has no doubt heard by now, has been cast as an openly gay character. 

    But it’s a progressive change that doesn’t hurt the overall narrative, serving instead to reflect modern society, as much so as the couple of mixed-race relationships shown among some of the major supporting players, which were also absent from the original. Disney has always promoted tolerance and love, and it is ironic that in conveying this message, the studio has suffered criticism from viewers who hang on steadfastly to outdated conservative beliefs.

    If you know the score by heart, you’ll no doubt sing along heartily as cast go through the entire songbook (although Watson’s voice sounds a little weak at times). As a bonus, award-winning composer Alan Menken has been brought back to create some new songs for the movie, and they’re every bit as haunting and charming as the ones he wrote in 1991. Menken’s penmanship harkens back to the days when melody was king in the Disney studios, unlike some of the pieces commissioned for the later Disney offerings.

    As for the beast himself, Dan Stevens plays him with aplomb, his emotions flitting between rage, fear, remorse and sincerity. The CGI effects portray him convincingly as the hirsute, bovine creature that becomes the eventual recipient of Belle’s love, but they are most convincing in bringing to life the huge number of inanimate objects in the story. 

    This movie illuminates rather than tarnishes the legacy, but one wonders how much more wondrous it could have been had it been made in this form initially, thereby avoiding inevitable comparisons between the two adaptations. It’s a lovely musical in its own right, one which rejuvenates and refreshes a tale as old as time for newer audiences.

@beourguest 

A CLAW ABOVE THE REST

This review was published in The West Australian dated Mar 2, 2017.

MOVIE
Logan
Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart
Director James Mangold

Review Ray Chan

You have to take your hat off to the producers for having the chutzpah to make this film.

    Billed as the last Logan movie, it could have so easily gone awry had the premise not been treated with the respect it deserved. Can you imagine a movie about the death of Superman or the final days of the USS Enterprise? 

    The demise of legends never goes down well with fans, and movie studios need to tread warily when venturing into such territory.

    Logan takes place in 2029, when the mutant population has shrunk significantly and the X-Men have disbanded. No new mutants have been born in more than two decades, and as their numbers dwindled, X-Men founder Charles Xavier's dreams of a new stage in evolution has slowly died.

    A weary Logan, played with aplomb by Hugh Jackman, has surrendered himself to alcohol, and lives in a remote, makeshift hideout which he shares with fellow mutant Caliban, nursemaid to the ailing and infirm Xavier. In addition, Logan's power to self-heal is dwindling; fading as he has aged, with his face and body being scarred from past injuries and battles.

    Logan’s path eventually crosses that of 11-year-old Laura, a product of a company named Transigen, which had been breeding children with mutant DNA samples to create their own super-powered team. He is persuaded to return Laura to her cohorts, all of whom escaped the laboratory and are now in a safe haven somewhere in North Dakota. Logan takes Xavier along on this mission as a team known as the Reavers attempt to abduct Laura back into the Transigen camp.

    Jackman has claimed many times that this would be the last time he would play the Wolverine, and it is a damn fine way to go out. Director James Mangold absolutely delivers with what is a brutal film on both a violent and emotional level. 

    This film holds nothing back when it comes to blood, sweat and tears, with several moments that’ll leave you either recoiling in horror or bawling your eyes out. Despite the fact that the action seen in this film is probably the best and grisliest we’ve seen in an X-Men movie, where this movie succeeds most is in its character-driven story full of pathos, vulnerability and uncertainty.

    Patrick Stewart is wonderful as he gives a heartbreaking final portrayal as Xavier, who’s now become something of a tragic character, yet is still trying to cling on to any shred of hope and optimism. When he meets his somewhat unexpected fate in the movie, the audience will be both shocked and saddened.

    Coming close to stealing the movie from Jackman and Stewart is Dafne Keen, who excels in every scene as the frightened yet steel-willed Laura. Bred from Logan’s DNA, Laura rightly considers Logan her father, and the deeply poignant connection between the two comes to another tear-jerking head at the movie’s conclusion.

    Logan succeeds on every level in delivering the Wolverine film we’ve all been waiting for, as we bid farewell to two beloved characters that were introduced at a time when superhero movies were just starting to get their foot into modern cinema. 

    This is, in my mind, the best super-hero ever made, and one even worthy of an Academy Award nomination.

CLASS FOR THE CLASSES

This review was published in The West Australian dated Mar 2, 2017.

CONCERT
Adele
Review Ray Chan

It says much for the appeal of music sensation Adele that fans flocked to Perth from the length and breadth of the state to attend possibly the blockbuster live act show of the year. Farmers even gave up a day (or two) of life on the paddocks to make the sojourn, while FIFO workers had long ago already rescheduled their rosters to ensure they could attend.

    Imagine a turnout about a fifth of what you’d get at the annual Skyworks show in the city, cramming into Domain stadium. The expected size of the crowd dominated the news events for days preceding the event, even forcing the transport authorities to issue warnings of traffic gridlocks in the lead-up to the spectacle. As Adele herself asked at the concert, “was there no other news in Perth?”

    The universal popularity of the British songstress was evidenced by the make-up of the audience: hip young things mingled with ladies and gents dressed in their formal best, with the age gap ranging from seniors in wheelchairs and walking frames to children barely able to walk. ‘Tis a curious thing indeed that she appeals to all generations, for Adele’s music, by her own admission, can be “terribly depressing” … but fans have obviously overlooked that in favour of her glorious voice and heart-tugging lyrics, while families are willing to forgive the odd profanity or two from a performer who cannot help but win over crowds with her charm, self-effacing commentary and hilarious Cockney banter.

    Adele’s Hello has not only provided the singer with a massive worldwide hit, but also given her the perfect song to open up any of her shows. And so it was at Subiaco, where fans erupted as the familiar refrains echoed clear as crystal, with Adele emerging from the specially-built stage spectacularly adorned in sequins which glittered like diamonds.

    The second song, Hometown Glory, endeared her even more to the crowd, as the wraparound video screens, initially showing shots of Adele’s birthplace, morphed into images of several Perth landmarks ... a nice touch which raised the noise appreciation department up a notch.

    From there, it was a virtually flawless performance, as Adele sailed through her repertoire of hits and favourite songs, including cover versions of Alison Krauss’ Don’t You Remember, and Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love, a piece that, while recorded by numerous other artists, has now become recognised as Adele’s own as much as its composer’s.

    The upbeat I’ll Be Waiting and Rumour Has It provided a nice counter balance to the slower ballads and torch songs, while the James Bond theme Skyfall was a standout, backed by outstanding screen visuals and a male choir.

    The entertainment factor was well-orchestrated and a feather in the cap for the team behind it (including Adele herself, no doubt). In between songs, fans were constantly engaged by a mixture of small talk, ad libs, audience participation – including an impromptu encounter with an Adele impersonator – and a round of souvenir slingshot as the singer fired shirts through a cannon to four lucky members of the crowd.

    Adele came back strongly after the encore break, which was highlighted by an amusing American-inspired Kiss Cam live video feed of various fans, with Rolling In The Deep getting everyone rocking in the stands, and the emotionally-charged Someone Like You rousing a feel-good singalong at the singer’s encouragement.

    Mention should be made of the gigantic, specially constructed theatre in the round, which offered the various bells and whistles that enhanced the experience to a prodigious level. The sound system was near faultless, projecting Adele’s voice loud and clear to near and far, while the 360-degree screens offered everyone a chance to not only view Adele close-up, but also the various videos made for the songs, many of which were shot exclusively for the show. 

    The stage was big enough to shine the spotlight on Adele when needed, and to allow her to walk around the circle to meet and greet her fans. There were launchers in place to puff out smoke for theatricality when needed, while those in the closer seats were treated to huge sprays of confetti, which included hand-written lyrics from Adele.

    Fireworks were even initially planned for the show, but rejected for safety reasons after Adele’s son caught some debris in his eye during a pyrotechnics trial run. But you know what? No fireworks were needed, as the singer provided more than enough of her own, sending thousands home delirious but despairing that Adele is unlikely to venture on a tour of this magnitude again. 

SETLIST

Hello

Hometown Glory

One and Only

I'll Be Waiting

Rumour Has It

Water Under the Bridge

I Miss You

Skyfall

Don't You Remember

Make You Feel My Love

Send My Love (to Your New Lover)

Sweetest Devotion

Chasing Pavements

Take It All 

Set Fire to the Rain

When We Were Young

Rolling in the Deep

Someone Like You

GREAT WALL OF FIRE

This review was published in The West Australian dated Feb 20, 2017.

MOVIE
The Great Wall
Matt Damon, Tian Jing
Director Zhang Yimou

Review Ray Chan

The Great Wall is an encouraging start to what seems to be a new era of Chinese-Hollywood epics, with the US movie house long keen to court China’s massive viewing market.

    Steered by renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou and backed by Chinese-owned Hollywood studio Legendary, it features a cast that includes many Chinese A-listers as well as Matt Damon, recruited to bring some pedigree to the project, and is so far the most expensive movie ever made in China.

    It seems somehow fitting that, given the film’s genesis, that the story centres on China’s relationship with foreigners. Western mercenaries William Garin (Damon) and Pero Tovar (Pedro Pascal) unwittingly stumble upon the huge man-made structure after fleeing a group of adversarial tribesmen, only to be greeted by an enormous army flanked along the wall.

    The Chinese troops, called the Nameless Order, are quickly suspicious of the strangers, but their lives are spared after the army’s chief scientist spots a severed green-skinned arm among Garin’s paraphernalia, procured after a deadly battle the night before which claimed the lives of three of Garin’s teammates.

    It transpires that the appendage belongs to a Tao Tei, a flesh-eating monster whose herd scales the Great Wall every 60 years to feed.

    Encouraged by the possibility that Garin bears the key to defeating the Tao Tei, the Chinese gradually welcome him into the fold, a concession aided by Garin’s own impressive skills at archery. But all is not as it seems, for Garin’s and Tovar’s original mission had been to infiltrate the Chinese lands to steal the precious gunpowder found there.

    The cultural differences are stark. The foreigners provide occasional comic relief as they fight among themselves and plot their escape with the magic black powder, while the Chinese are nothing but stoic, humourless and disciplined and dedicated to their cause.

    As it turns out, Garin and friend have appeared just as the Tao Tei launch their 60-year assault. The duo have no option but to help out the army in fighting the monsters, and after successfully warding off the attacks, are treated even more like heroes.

    But in doing so, Garin discovers the good within his own self. Humbled by the culture of these new peoples, he develops a kinship with them and, as the Commander Lin (Jing Tian) explains, a special “trust”.

    The plot is straightforward with nary a twist and turn. A fledgling romance between Garin and Li is hinted at, but never expanded upon. This is, after all, a “respectful” movie aimed at Chinese audiences, to which it certainly plays up, with grandiose depictions of Chinese militaria, including catapulting fireballs, hula-hooped bungee-jumping female warriors, giant hot air balloons and enormous scythes which emerge from the wall.

    Zhang’s artistic touch is clearly on display in his long panoramic sweeps and artful use of colour to depict this mix of historic and futuristic inventions. The visual spectacle undoubtedly helps carry much of the film, the highlight being a beautiful shot of traditional sky lanterns at one character’s funeral.

    As the Chinese eventually discover, the Tao Teis’ initial retreat was merely a ruse, and they return for a climactic battle in which Garin plays his part, while his partner instead chooses to flee with some of the gunpowder heisted from the inner chambers.

    The Great Wall is basically a no-nonsense special effects extravaganza with plenty of adventure. But does that necessarily lower its value? A movie does not need to be deep and meaningful for it to be enjoyable.

    On a closing note, viewers could be forgiven for feeling the movie’s name must be a metaphor of some kind. Could the moral of the story be a pointed observation on the influence of foreign values on Chinese society? Is it about East and West working together for the general good, with collectivism winning out over individualism? Or, perhaps, it’s simply a tribute to the way China and Hollywood have overcome obstacles to collaborate on the movie.

WIZARD'S TALE MISSES THE MAGIC

MOVIE

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Colin Farrell

Director David Yeates

Review Ray Chan

THE JK Rowling-penned Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a prequel to the Harry Potter movies, is based on a fictional encyclopedia that becomes a staple reference item for students at the Hogwarts institution.
    Set in 1920s New York, the film chronicles the exploits of English adventurer and “magizoologist” Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), who is swept up in a whirlwind of chaos moments after stepping off the boat in the US.
    The somewhat eccentric Scamander accidentally swaps luggage with a local businessman, runs into a crowd of New Salem fanatics who want to kill all witches, and explores the American wizard world and its exotic inhabitants.
    The relocation provides a fascinating glimpse of the wider mythology and history in Rowling’s universe, as Scamander spends the first hour of the movie dashing about New York, chasing down mischievous creatures and sucking them into his tesseract of a suitcase, which puts Mary Poppins’ carpetbag to shame.
    Sadly, while the mystical menagerie is the focus of the movie, the critters don’t look that flash. For a movie with a $180 million budget and based on magic, Fantastic Beasts ironically lacks the magic with its mediocre animation and CGI, and some unimpressive sequences.
    It’s only when Scamander’s American counterpart Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) leads him into the heart of the New Salem events that the story finds direction and the movie steps up a pace.
    Goldstein is a former Auror (dark wizard catcher) looking for redemption, and her emotional connection to one of the cult members gives the film the pathos and sense of depth absent up to that point.
    Dull and humdrum, Scamander is a character difficult to care about, but the strong supporting cast—including wannabe baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), Tina’s sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) and troubled teen Creedence (Ezra Miller)—all give the movie more emotional heft as it reaches its climax.
    All things considered, the film is fine enough to make you forgive, if not forget, the fact that it exists primarily as a corporate enterprise and not as an imaginative tour de force to sit alongside the Potter productions themselves.

#fantasticbeasts

POTTY-MOUTHED PIXAR

MOVIE
Sausage Party
Setyh Rogen, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Kristen Wiig
Directors Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan
Review Ray Chan

The movie’s opening barrage of profanity serves as a warning to parents who might have wandered in with their kids on the assumption that this was an innocent little cartoon about the secret lives of groceries. Don’t be fooled by the anthropomorphic edibles, for it’s far from suitable for those of a tender age.
    It takes place in a supermarket, where the produce stirs to life every morning by singing a joyous hymn about “The Great Beyond”, dreaming of that transcendent moment when “the gods” will pick them from the shelf, pop them in their trolley and take them out of those elusive sliding doors to some heavenly plane.
    For the sausages Frank (Seth Rogen), Carl (Jonah Hill) and Barry (Michael Cera), reaching this nirvana would mean getting the chance to be up close with their ladylike companions: the hotdog buns, the sauciest of which is Brenda (Kristen Wiig).
    But when Frank and Brenda are separated from their friends and left behind in the store, they learn they’ve been spared from a viciously violent fate in which their deities brutally slaughter food by boiling them, slicing them and, most heinously of all, chewing them up and swallowing them.
    Spurred on by this epiphanous discovery, the newly liberated Frank and Brenda roam the aisles with ideological frenemies Sammy Bagel Jr. (Edward Norton by way of Woody Allen) and Lavash (David Krumholtz), who are later joined by sexy Teresa del Taco (Salma Hayek), whose flirtations leave Brenda questioning her devout faith. Adding some spice (pun intended) to the journey, along the way, they’re all pursued by a vengeful feminine hygiene product (Nick Kroll).
    Directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan (ironically, of Thomas and Friends fame) totally succeed in making this an effective visual and tonal spoof of animation houses like Pixar and DreamWorks.
    With the animation offering the writing squad new ways to be naughty, they take full advantage of it, throwing in boorish bufoonery and sexual innuendo throughout the film, in effect turning it into one whole running gag about intentionally-offensive stereotyping of foreign cuisine and anatomically-accurate representation of foodstuff.
    But there’s more to the scripting of Rogen, his regular creative partner Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir, than just the serving of smut – this is not an attempt at producing a lewd lampoon just for the sake of it.
    Look deeper and you’ll find wisps of social commentary, from introspections of warring nations to blind devotion to various theological beliefs.
    And nothing can really quite prepare you for the virtuoso climax to the grocerial gross-outs: a graphic bacchanal conducted entirely by the contents of a fridge.
    Unless you are of a sensitive nature – and if you are, you wouldn’t go to a Seth Rogen movie anyway – you will leave the theatre laughing all the way home, even if you might just contemplate what the popcorn was really thinking.

#sausageparty

HIM TARZAN, YOU LEFT COLD

This review was published in The West Australian dated Jul 14, 2016.

MOVIE

The Legend of Tarzan
Alexander Skarsgård, Samuel L. Jackson
Director David Yates

Review Ray Chan

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan was a product of its time – back when it was perfectly legitimate, and even exciting, to imagine the story of how an English nobleman, bred by apes, ended up talking to animals, leading the African people, and being doted on by a subservient wife.

    But the character’s capacity to excite contemporary audiences was probably doomed to extinction the day political correctness dawned.

    Tarzan was created by a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) writer, educated largely in the 19th century, whose vision of Africa was strictly that of a colonial imperialist, and whose impressions of women were equally as outdated.

    I wonder whether anyone born after 1970 has the slightest clue what to make of this guy in the loincloth, and, since 1980, Hollywood has had a string of flops with the character to prove it. Do kids still read Burroughs’ books today?

    And so it is with this in mind that one should view the latest Tarzan offering, if one is to gain maximum enjoyment. The lord of the jungle is a century-old superhero, and his adventures take place during a time of insensitive racial and gender representations, not to mention the occasional case of animal cruelty.

    As the movie starts, Tarzan (or Lord Greystoke, as he is rightly known, played by Alexander Skarsgard, son of Stellan) is already ensconced in his role as a member of the English Parliament. He is asked to resume his Tarzan role and help the debt-ridden Belgian government steal sacred diamonds from the Congo, but in reality it is a way for Belgian schemer Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) to deliver Tarzan to Congolese tribe leader King Mbonga, who wants to exact revenge on him for the death of his son.

    Along the way, Samuel L Jackson fills his annual quota of fantasy movie roles by portraying US emissary George Washington Williams, tagging along to ensure Congolese civilians aren’t being enslaved.

    The older generation will be familiar with Tarzan’s origins, but for the younger audiences, flashback scenes to how his parents died and his subsequent adoption by apes may prove confusing, for they do not reveal how he rose to become champion of the African lands. They will be equally bemused as to how Tarzan can communicate so easily with apes, ostriches, elephants, lions, water buffalo, crocodiles and a whole menagerie of other forest fauna.

    The Congo, as it turns out, is home to several different tribes of varying hues, yet it sticks out like a sore thumb that none of them question the appearance of George, an educated black man clothed in Western gear and speaking a different dialect. While he eventually helps save Tarzan in a moment of peril, it does seem his inclusion as an improbable sidekick was simply to serve as a counterpoint to any suggestion of racial discrimination.

    Then there's Jane (Australian Margot Robbie), who, while not exactly a damsel in distress, isn't much else. As Tarzan’s wife, she insists upon joining his journey home, eventually falling into Rom's clutches, and conveniently being used as bait to lure our hero into a trap.

    There are some nice scenes throughout which reflect Burrough’s visions. Tarzan swings through the jungle with grace and power, and his connections with the animals are conveyed well. If anything, Skarsgard is too stoic, although perhaps the script called for a humourless hero.

    If this were a movie about another Burroughs’ creation, John Carter of Mars, battling aliens on some exotic world, audiences would certainly find it enthralling. But trying to envisage an Earthman taking on and talking to animal herds and creating stampedes by himself will require a greater suspension of belief.

    Him Tarzan, me half-satisfied.

MELISSA SHOWS WHO'S BOSS

This review was published in The West Australian dated April 26, 2016

MOVIE

The Boss
Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell
Review Ray Chan

What defines a good movie? For this reviewer, it’s simply based on the enjoyment factor.

     I’ve gone on record as rating Grimbsy on a higher plane than The Lady In The Van; while the former had many viewers rollicking in the aisles, the latter was a more sedate affair, despite the pull of its star actress and a well-written screenplay.

    Indeed, some critics can be a pretentious lot; they’ll thumb their nose at an Adam Sandler movie sight unseen, but mention Ridley Scott or Quentin Tarantino, and they’ll immediately kneel in reverence.

    Melissa McCarthy’s latest offering has been slated ruthlessly on many forums, with some leading movie sites dishing out less-than-favourable treatment. But don’t let that sway your judgment of this film, because if you want to treat yourself to an hour and a half of laughs, then you’ll most likely find a lot of them here.

    In The Boss, McCarthy plays wealthy CEO Michelle Darnell, who is now the 47th wealthiest woman in the world, despite growing up without a family.

    But after she gets arrested for insider trading and sent to federal prison, she finds herself broke, homeless and hated. Luckily, she tracks down former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell), the only person who's willing to help. While staying with Claire, she devises a new business model for her young daughter Rachel’s girl guide troop.

    The empire to sell brownies starts to grow, but unfortunately, some old enemies stand in the way of her return to the top, including former lover Renault, played by Peter Dinklage, who seems to always be the first actor cast each time a role calls for a man of his shorter stature.

    Aided by Claire and her co-worker Mike (played by the delightful Tyler Labine), Darnell jokes, jousts, and jams her way through as she attempts to win back what is rightfully hers, and although the ending sequences fall a bit flat, she ends up realising that success is all the more to be savoured with a the support of familial friends by her side.

    McCarthy is a rising star, and often delights with her charismatic nature. Sure, her sometimes guttural humour is not everyone’s cup of tea … and sometimes the characters she plays do not appeal to the viewer. But in The Boss, Darnell, initially obnoxious, exposes a lovable side to her personality that the audience is sure to warm up to.

    The Boss is no award winner, but it’s no downright lemon either. Leave the analytical mind at the door and you will likely find yourself enjoying this movie more than you thought you would.

FAR FROM GRIM

This review was published in The West Australian on Mar 11, 2016

MOVIE

Grimsby
Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong

Review Ray Chan

By now, most people assume they know what to expect from a Sacha Baron Cohen movie. The truly funny scenes in many of his films are often tempered with offensive reality skits that can leave viewers cringing in their seats.

   But in Grimsby – called The Brothers Grimsby, a far cleverer name, in the US – Cohen proves he can also deliver when it comes to a more straightforward comedy narrative, even if it’s laced with plenty of his trademark gross-out gags.

    Cohen plays Nobby, a dim-witted English football hooligan with a heart of gold (an oxymoron in itself), in the economically-challenged seaside town of Grimsby, where he has raised 11 children, all of whom live together in the same house he shares with generously-proportioned partner Lindsey (Rebel Wilson), the most gorgeous gal in the north-east of England. One bedroom in the dwelling is permanently left vacant, kept for Nobby’s brother Sebastian (Mark Strong), who has been missing for 28 years.

    It turns out that, during that time, Sebastian has become the best MI6 secret agent in history. When the brothers are reunited at a charity event for the World Health Organization, Nobby inadvertently screws up Sebastian’s mission to assassinate a hit man, forcing him to accidentally kill the chief of WHO while also wounding the poster child for AIDS in Somalia, with the latter’s blood spilling into the mouth of Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, causing him to contract the disease.

    The sheer absurdity of this scene sets the tone for the rest of the movie, with each subsequent gag exceeding its predecessor in terms of vulgarity, outlandishness and pure silliness, as the brothers go on the run to Africa in an attempt to clear Sebastian’s name.

    The action sequences are spectacular and punchily staged by director Louis Letterier (The Transporter), whether it’s the brothers against their pursuers, Nobby’s kids defending their dad, or his band of football followers (Johnny Vegas and Ricky Tomlinson shine all too briefly) in a pitch invasion.

    Cohen has always been the master of discomfort, with most of his movies containing at least one crowning moment of crowd-pleasing hilarity, such as the mankini and butt-kissing scenes from Borat, or the full frontals in Bruno. In Grimsby, the magnum opus lies in the game reserves of South Africa, involving a herd of elephants and an attempt at concealment by the brothers as they flee from their would-be captors.

    It’s the sort of humour that Cohen’s American peers such as Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, and Seths McFarlane and Rogen love indulging in, except Cohen seems to do it better here. For all his intellectual shortcomings, Nobby is a family man whose love for his partner, children and sibling is clear for all to see, and this feature alone makes him a more appealing character than a self-centred Derek Zoolander or Ron Burgundy.

    Far from the unrestrained political incorrectness and lewdness that characterised his previous offerings, Grimsby actually comes close to being a warm-hearted comedy, certainly something of a surprise.

    Make no mistake, the laughs keep coming in this movie, irrespective of the juvenility or inappropriateness of some of the jokes. Cohen is a skilled comedian who understands what his brand is, and how to make raunchy shenanigans work in the extreme nature for which they are intended.

    Grimsby leaves this reviewer in a quandary, for I found ity enormously entertaining, lack of solid story notwithstanding. It’s a far different movie from the likes of a gentle offering such as The Lady In The Van, for which I awarded 3 stars. Given the fact that I enjoyed this far more than the Maggie Smith production, I have no option but to rate Grimsby 4 out of 5.

A LADY IN WAITING

The review was published in The West Australian dated Mar 2, 2016

FILM
The Lady In The Van
Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings
REVIEW RAY CHAN

Alan Bennett’s acclaimed The Lady in the Van, already released for stage, radio and in book form, has now made the transition to cinema, ensuring a wider audience for the author’s beloved play.
    In it, veteran actress Maggie Smith reprises her radio role as Miss Mary Shepherd, an eccentric homeless woman whom Bennett befriended in the 1970s before letting her park her dilapidated van in the driveway of his Camden home. Initially promising to stay for three months, she ended up entrenched there for the next 15 years.
    As the story develops, Bennett, played by Alex Jennings, learns that Miss Shepherd is really a former gifted musician with a convoluted history. After being ill-treated at the abbey where she hoped to become a nun, she was committed to an institution by her brother, escaped, had an accident when her van was hit by a motorcyclist for which she believed herself to blame, and thereafter lived in fear of arrest.
    In reprising his experiences with Miss Shepherd, we see two Bennetts, both played by Jennings, in the household … a storytelling device that allows us to easily view the writer’s conflicting selves as they try to adapt to the unexpected intrusion into their lives. In a clever breaking down of the fourth wall, the two halves are in constant, contradictory dialogue about whether it would be proper to use Bennett’s experiences with Shepherd as inspiration for a play. It’s the kind of narrative stunt that could easily go astray, but is pulled off with surety.
    Smith’s character is cantankerous, odious and ungrateful, with her utter obliviousness to her lack of personal hygiene, her initially peculiar hatred of music, and her ragtag wardrobe that's been assembled from various dumpsters.
    Yet is a testament to Smith’s pedigree and fame in other roles that the audience warms up to her and manages to look beyond the faults that could easily have made her totally unlikeable had the character been played by someone else.
    Many of the laughs in this film are a result of the reaction by the introverted, kind-hearted Bennett as he tries to help the addled visitor and her eccentricities.
    But there is also a tinge of sadness as he grapples with having to move his own ageing, mother into a nursing home, while on the other hand offering his driveway as sanctuary for someone of similar age and mental deterioration to whom he is not related.
    It must have plagued Bennett that he was perhaps subconsciously helping her out of guilt over how he treated his ailing mother. Or was he just keeping her as source material?
    The movie is all the more poignant for being shot in the same house and street where the incident occurred in real life .. and the real Bennett himself makes a cameo at the film’s end. Indeed, the movie engages a stellar cast of supporting players, including a number of revered British stalwarts such as Frances de la Tour, Roger Allam, Jim Broadbent, Dominic Cooper, as well as James Corden in a cameo.
    In an era of American sledgehammer comedies with lead protagonists so dim as to defy belief, it is refreshing to watch a gentle comedy such as this, the sort which the British seem to excel in producing.
    There are some false notes along the way, and a rather fanciful ending, but it remains a showpiece for the talents of the remarkable Dame Maggie, and that, in itself, is reason enough to pop along and enjoy this memorable ride through Bennet’s backyard.