THIS BOOK IS NOT THE COVER

MOVIE
Mary Poppins Returns
Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda
Director Rob Marshall

Review Ray Chan

Mary Poppins Returns could probably have been named Mary Poppins Repeats, for that would more accurately describe a movie which unashamedly attempts to mimic the magicness of the original by capturing all its feels, foibles, frolics and fantasy. 

    JJ Abrams went down the same track when he made Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which succeeded in recapturing the appeal of the landmark movie from which it spawned. That was some feat, for even George Lucas couldn’t replicate his own signature blend of space opera and television serials in his tired prequel trilogy.    
    But sometimes imitation can simply remain a form of flattery and nothing else. Unfortunately, despite director Rob Marshall's best of intentions, this remake needs a few spoonfuls of sugar to make it palatable.
    Granted, the bar was set very high. Mary Poppins is the most recognised live action musical in the Disney canon, backed by the unmatched melodies of the Sherman Brothers and stellar performances from Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, even if the Cockney accent left much to be desired.
    This time round, another American is cast (Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame), and he makes a much better fist of the Pommie pretense. He plays Jack, part of a legion of lamplighters who have apparently taken the place of chimney sweepers in this era, set some 20 years after the first movie.
    But beyond that, the plot is pretty much the same, and ultimately the copycat storyline isn’t robust enough to stand apart from the original.
    The Banks children are now grown up, and the recently-widowed Michael (Ben Whishaw) lives in the family home with his three children Anabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh) and Georgie (Joel Dawson). The abode is threatened with foreclosure unless he and sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) can find the shares their father left behind to cover the cost of the mortgage.
    With the Banks family distraught, the English breezes blow in Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt), who takes it upon herself to look after the children while concealing their outings from their beleaguered dad.
    From there, if you've seen the original movie many times over, the proceedings are pretty much telegraphed, as Mary, Jack and the kids traipse through animated adventures while also helping the Banks siblings fight off the determined efforts of the bank to repossess the house.
    It goes without saying that no actress could ever emulate Julie Andrews, and a Mary Poppins film featuring her in any role other than the titular one would be practically imperfect in every way. Andrews was entirely correct in turning down a cameo role, providing Blunt freedom to create her own version of the character.
   She gives the character some extra pep, attitude and zestiness. Her singing voice, while not in the Andrews class, is more than capable of singing Can You Imagine That? (the equivalent to A Spoonful of Sugar), The Royal Doulton Music Hall (Jolly Holiday), A Cover Is Not the Book (Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) and the lilting The Place Where Lost Things Go (Stay Awake).
    Interestingly, the songs themselves prove to be a mix of wit and woe. The Sherman Brothers were in a pedigree of their own when it came to crafting catchy, singalong tunes with memorable lyrics. Despite the valiant efforts of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (and even with Richard Sherman serving as a “consultant”), the melodies in the movie lack sufficient hooks and addictiveness to help them linger in the mind. On the other hand, many of the verses are very clever and well-written.
    Sticking too close to the original can also have other pitfalls, demonstrated none more so than in the Trip a Little Light Fantastic sequence. When Mary, Jack, and the kids join up with the lamplighters in a rousing number in the spirit of Step in Time, it falls flat. While it's obvious that Marshall had aimed for a spectacular showstopper of a scene, the choreography is confused and composed of predictable moves that seem to reference every well-known dance movie of the past.
    Then there is the mystery of Meryl. Remember Uncle Albert (Ed Wynn)? He provided a happy and enjoyable interlude in the first movie, rising to the rafters each time he laughed. The analog in the remake is someone named Cousin Topsy (Meryl Streep), who does little but sing a laborious ditty called Turning Turtle.
    In short, there’s almost a parallel counterpart for everything in the original, most of which don't work. There's not much difference in the plots to suggest this is anything but a direct retelling of its predecessor, albeit taking place in a different time period.
    Conversely though, when Marshall does try to veer away from the formula, it seems as if he tries too hard, by exaggerating the visual spectacle. So now it’s not merely snapping fingers to make toy blocks assemble, instead there’s a magical underwater world inside the bathtub.
    There are some notable cameos to look out for. Dick Van Dyke's appearance has been well-publicised, so it's not really a spoiler to mention him here.
   But see if you can spot Karen Dotrice, who played the original Jane. As Jack and the grown-up Jane chat outside the home, a woman (Dotrice) approaches them and asks for directions to 19, Cherry Tree Lane. When they simultaneously tell her it's two doors down, she politely replies, "Many thanks, sincerely", a nod to the song The Perfect Nanny from the first film.
    All that being said, the colourful palette and top-notch production values of Mary Poppins Returns, coupled with the much-improved animation of today and the merry routines, will definitely entertain newer generations of kids who've never seen the original, and whose enjoyment will not be diluted by inevitable comparisons.
    But for long-time Mary Poppins fans, the remake can be regarded as a filmic facsimile that didn't quite come off. It leaves them wanting more – or indeed, less – and some others, like this reviewer, will have a desire to pop in a DVD of the original movie for a rewatch.

#marypoppinsreturns

SWIMMINGLY GOOD FUN

MOVIE

Aquaman
Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman
Director James Wan

Review Ray Chan

When it comes to finding a formula for successful super-hero movies, it's been the Marvel Comics line of characters that has kept raising the bar to new heights.

    But the DC Extended Universe appears to have picked up its game in recent times. Wonder Woman, with its female lead, a terrific script and an underlying sense of optimism, remains a critical success, and now Aquaman, spearheaded by Jason Momoa, very clearly follows in its footsteps.

    The fundamental plot of the film follows the sea king's comic book origin closely. It begins with Atlanna (a suitably majestic and nobly powerful Nicole Kidman), the ousted queen of the undersea realm of Atlantis, washed up on the shore around a lighthouse kept by lonely Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison). There's a lovely little tribute to the Gerry Anderson underwater marionette TV show Stingray as Tom brings Atlanna into his home, and they eventually produce a son Arthur, destined to unite the surface world with the sub-aquatic territories.

    But that won’t happen if Aquaman’s half brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson), also Atlanna's son but to a different father, has anything to say about it. Orm rallies Atlantis to wage war on terra firma because of the way humans have dumped garbage into the ocean, polluted it with oil spills, and encouraged climate change, which is killing ocean life. While Orm's regarded as the movie's villain, it also seems he has a valid point when he accuses land-dwellers of starting the battle.

    Enter Mera (Amber Heard), a warrior, a sorceress, daughter of a king, and also betrothed to Orm against her wishes. At the behest of Atlantean chief scientist Vulko (William Dafoe), she seeks out Arthur to convince him to take his rightful place on the throne. 

    Thrown into the mix is Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), another character from the comics. His motivation to kill Aquaman comes from an earlier incident when Aquaman refused to rescue his pirate father from a sinking submarine, leaving him to perish, claiming “You killed innocent people. Let the seas judge you.” 

    This sequence breaks new ground. Heroes, by definition, or at least the comic book code, do not kill. So Aquaman's action clearly goes against tradition, although perhaps the fledging fighter doesn’t consider himself a hero at that stage, and it gives him a character arc to grow into. But it certainly also gives Manta a legitimate reason for revenge.

    Aquaman's powers include super-strength and the ability to communicate with marine life, which is taken seriously and used creatively, whether he's talking with sharks, whales or even HP Lovecraft-inspired creatures. Mera, as in the comic books, can manipulate water, and uses her powers to great effect.

    Making the movie more breathtaking is the focus on the seven kingdoms which make up Atlantis, and particularly their inhabitants, which include crab-like creatures, merpeople, and angler-fish beings. The battle sequences between opposing armies as Aquaman marshals various denizens of the deep on his trusty sea-horse are some of the movie's most enduring, and a testament to the creative genius of Perth-raised director James Wan, famous for his Saw, Conjuring and Furious 7 movies.

    Wan balances the enormity of the special effects and heaviness of the more explosive depictions cleverly with doses of humour throughout, such as in the banter between Aquaman and Mera, or in various scenes throughout the movie, such as an octopus playing drums (a nod to Aquaman's comic book pet Topo), or luminous jellyfish adorning Mera's costume.

    (Incidentally, Wan isn't the only Perth connection. Local actress Sophia Forrest plays the part of a princess of the Fishermen tribes.)

    Through it all, Momoa flexes his muscles as the camera objectifies his presence in a way that is usually restricted to women. Indeed, the first shot of the adult Arthur has him tossing his ringletty curls playfully as he looks at us over one tattooed shoulder, eyebrow raised, and asks permission to come aboard. 

    Yet, while his swaggering charisma is as formidable as his brawn, he is also the incarnation of the super-hero as a regular dude. For most of his exploits, he’s in tattered jeans as he counters the flowery speech of the other Atlanteans with macho quips, giving little doubt that what he most wants in the world is a cold pint at his local bar. 

    Momoa interacts well with Heard, in particular in a superbly choreographed chase scene in a Sicilian village. Kidman, meanwhile, actually almost steals the show with her portrayal of the regal, ass-kicking matriarch, a marked diversion from the usual characters she has played of late.

    All in all, there's much to like in this movie, which very much fits into the mould of a Marvel Universe production. And like a Marvel movie, it leaves us with a cliffhanger after the first run of credits, that teases a not-quite-unexpected twist which sets up the sequel’s story with neat efficiency. 

    As with Wonder Woman, the  movie is about a character coming to terms with his place in the world, a film that earnestly embraces its more ludicrous tropes, and a sprawling epic that makes DC universe movies worth watching again. Now if only they can stop trying to make everything super-serious, return the fun to Superman and avoid portraying Batman as a serial-killer-in-training. 

#aquaman #jasonmomoa

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROMA

MOVIE
ROMA
Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira
Director Alfonso Cuaron

Review Ray Chan

When movie critics get together, chances are they will talk about Roma. Alfonso Cuaron’s production has been lauded as the most beautiful cinematic release made in recent times, registering near universal acclaim on even the most hardened of review websites.

    Some point out that it’s more style than substance. Certainly, moviegoers will be immediately  enveloped in the sweeps employed by the Academy Award-winning director's visual technique, which brings a majesty to the widescreen that entices with its sheer lavishness and attention to detail.

    There’s just so much to see in every individual composition and each new vignette: a plane flies across the sky in the reflection of a window in soap suds; a panaromic span of a rural countryside reveals people going about their business while a circus performer is shot from a cannon; a family outing at a picnic carries us through to a scene where men and women alike participate in a spot of recreational shooting, guns clasped in hands like budding secret agents.

    Images are captured from angles that make each still a resplendent study of art, enhanced by the decision to shoot the movie in black and white, granting it that timeless quality and edge which work to snare the viewer’s attention.

    Time will tell if it’s a masterpiece with qualifying asterisks, or simply a masterwork, full stop. But for this reviewer, it casts a definite enchantment and describes a specific period, place and collection of Cuaron’s personal memories in ways that will resonate with millions.

    Taking place in 1970, the story is set in the Colonia Roma district where Cuaron grew up, during a period wracked by civil unrest. The era is also clearly stamped by a soundtrack of the times, from various Latin American favourites to the biggest English hit of the year in the country (Christie’s Yellow River), and references to Creedence and the Beatles.

    The picture is based around the nanny who helped raise Cuaron. The movie’s  version of that housekeeper, Cleo, is played wonderfully by newcomer Yalitza Aparicio, whose warm, loyal presence becomes the central focus.

    The maid looks after the household of Sofia (Marina De Tavira) in a middle-class adobe which accommodates four children, one grandmother, another servant, one regularly defecating canine, some caged birds and a husband who later absconds to Acapulco with his mistress. 

    Cleo eventually loses her virginity to a restive young man (Jorge Antonio Guerrero) devoted to martial-arts training and so disturbed by Cleo’s resultant pregnancy that he disowns mother and child.  A few days later, as the family spends New Year’s Eve with relatives in a country hacienda, a forest fire erupts, forcing the men to try and douse the flames as the women continue to sip their champagnes. Again, all this is told in slow, smart pans of the camera.

    Indeed, Roma drifts from incident to incident, involving earthquakes, street protests,  Cleo’s arrival at hospital to deliver the baby, where tragedy awaits, and a rescue that bonds the family and Cleo ever tighter. Cuaron’s technical prowess and profound artistic vision combine to ensure that, while we’re with Cleo every step of the way, we always get to see the streets, the countryside, the world around her, and other minutiae, suggesting many other stories yet to be told.

    With such powerful and breathtaking imagery, it’s easy to overlook the lack of an actual narrative in the movie. It’s basically a chapter in the life of a Mexican maid, but Cuaron has assuredly turned these adventures into a marvel of craft and one of the year’s very finest achievements.

   The use of water is a recurring device in the film, from the calming opening scenes of a floor being lathered, to rainy weather in the city, to Cleo’s pregnancy waters breaking, and culminating in the waves of a tempestuous sea. 

    Oceans often represent obstacles or abysses from which things emerge, or that characters must journey across to reach a destination. Water generally cleanses, however, and it inevitably becomes a symbol of characters handling difficult life scenarios. Both aspects are exemplified as Cleo and Sofia come to grips with their respective predicaments.

    Without a doubt, Roma rewards your time sublimely. It’s showing both in the theatres and also via Netflix on TV, but really, watching it on as wide an aspect ratio as possible maximises its grandeur. 

    Cuaron won an Oscar for directing Gravity, the movie about astronauts stranded in space. Co-written by Cuaron, it was inspired by the 1969 movie Marooned, to which homage is paid in one of the scenes from Roma. It’ll surely be no surprise to see this epic earn him another accolade at the 91st Academy Awards in February.

#roma  #cuaron

DELIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE

MOVIE
Bumblebee
Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz
Director Travis Knight
Review Ray Chan

As his Wikipedia entry proclaims, director Michael Bay has become synonymous with big-budget action productions characterised by stylistic visuals and extensive use of special effects, “including frequent depictions of explosions”.
    Over more than a decade, he has suffused the Transformers films with his discordant brand that often involved lengthy scenes of mass destruction: sensory divertissements that had more in common with high-speed amusement rides in mosh pits than what we would otherwise consider customary, cinematic storytelling. 
     But Bumblebee, refreshingly, is quite unlike its predecessors. New director Travis Knight shows that there’s no need to traverse the route of spectacular crash-bang effects to effectively sell the concept of alien beings that can morph into machines.
    Some cynics might suggest that’s not difficult, since storytelling consistency and half-decent character development are probably all that are needed to better the tedious array of antecedents. 
    In Bumblebee’s case, this false praise would be a travesty of justice, for it truly is a solid and satisfying movie that melds action, humour, and characterisation, and with enough pathos to establish a clear connectivity with the audience. 
    Justifiably so, Knight’s new era re-tells the origin of the Transformers, taking us back to the planet Cybertron, where the civilisation of sentient robots is in the middle of a savage war with the attacking band of Decepticons.
    Recognising imminent defeat, Transformers leader Optimus Prime signals a hasty retreat for his armies of Autobots and commands a soldier to flee to Earth to prepare the planet to become the resistance’s new base of operations.
    The black-and-yellow automaton crashes in the thick of a military exercise, led by Agent Jack Burns (John Cena), which quickly escalates into a robot hunt, as the alien, demonstrating a mix of fear and curiosity,  desperately flees his pursuers, trying to avoid harming them while evading capture. 
    Unfortunately for the Autobot, a Decepticon duly arrives to confront him. In the battle that ensues, the Transformer manages to destroy his attacker, but not before his voice box is ripped out, his memory erased, and his shell converted into a beat-up Volkswagen Beetle as a defense mechanism.
    Eventually ending up in a car yard, the dormant apparatus gets acquired by teenage amateur mechanic Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), who’s still mourning the death of her father. The iron giant that can also become a convenient compact car immediately becomes her new best friend, but not before it demonstrates feelings of insecurity, a willingness to assimilate, and a child-like innocence.
    The pair bond and enter a series of comic misadventures, giving the movie a more interesting and entertaining resonance than the other mega-serious Transformers offerings. Eventually they battle two more Decepticons, who have arrived on Earth and duped the US army with their intentions in a bid to flush out the Autobot, now renamed Bumblebee by Charlie.
    At its essence, the movie is about finding one’s purpose and voice (for Bumblebee, this is literal; for Charlie, symbolic). Certainly, the delightful chemistry between the two has given the franchise its buzz back, pun intended. They have ample opportunity to learn important lessons, prove their heroism and save the world, even as their efforts point to more ominous adventures on the horizon.
    As always, Optimus Prime appears at the end to deliver his preachy, Adam West-esque monologue, a speech that actually blends in well with the more light-hearted nature of the film.
    Bumblebee fits nicely in the family action genre, laced with genuine and good-humoured performances, and direction that finally makes the Transformers characters feel real. The screenplay by Christina Hodson embraces the familiar structure of classic magical sidekick movies such as Pete’s Dragon, E.T. and even another Beetle accomplice in Herbie, complete with an obligatory scene where our hero looks as if he’s expired, but in which everyone just knows he will recover.
    As an aside, the decision to portray Bumblebee as a mid-'60s Volkswagen Bug may seem like a strange choice to some, but this model was the character’s original configuration in early stages of the Transformers timeline before it became the more muscular Chevrolet Camaro in later sequels, an evolution which is acknowledged at movie’s end and will surely delight hardcore Transformers fans. 
    All in all, Knight shines like his proverbial namesake, letting the adventure take flight into a joyous orbit, floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bumblebee. With Paramount’s planned Transformers 7 project shelved for now, this character could represent the studio’s next best chance to extend the franchise, particularly if it doesn’t detour from the motion picture motorway it’s travelling on.

#bumblebeemovie

ESCAPE FROM REALITY

MOVIE
Bohemian Rhapsody
Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton
Review Ray Chan

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
    Viewers will have to make up their own minds about this biopic on Freddie Mercury, which promises a retelling of the life of the Queen frontman, but strangely delivers a healthy dose of false news as it does so.
    We meet Rami Malek, fitted with rabbity prosthetic buck teeth, as Farrokh Bulsara unloading luggage from planes. Within minutes he has upset his staunch Zanzibari family with his penchant for the night life, charmed his way into a struggling band of blokes with little personality, accidentally snapped his mic stand in half and thereby creating his trademark singing posture, named himself after a Roman god, and taken a slightly soporific girlfriend Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton) who will conclude he’s not heterosexual in the slightest, well before he does.
    The rise of the band is depicted with the same dizzying speed, as the newly coronated Queen starts to gain fame with its brand of glitzy, glamour rock. 
    The story takes an odd liberty with the facts when it reveals the group's first break was in the US, where among the songs it would play in live shows would be the cheeky Fat-Bottomed Girls, in reality a hit long after Queen had already been established as a bona fide star act.
    All in all, the band’s incandescent moments are duly brought out, from the operatic trills invoking Galileo and Bismillah, to the bassy throb of Another One Bites the Dust. But along the way, as Freddie and companions bitch and bicker and rock and roll, the general malaise in the way cliches are thrown in and character stereotypes are portrayed leads to a sense of indifference as to what might be turning up next.
    Michael Myer plays a nice part, looking like a dishevelled Jeff Lynne and is almost unrecognisable. He gives himself away with a classic one-liner, so watch out for it. There's also a moment when the screen swims with print, highlighting various cities and countries that the band played in as their fame spreads throughout the globe. Guess which Australian city is the only one that gets a mention.
    The movie tends to romp along inconsistently, spending too much time on inconsequential events and far too little on the issues of real interest.  Mercury’s complicated sexuality is left almost entirely off-screen and the rest of the band are merely musicians with mullets who have no charisma. 
    Almost the entire first half of the movie is dedicated to his love story with Austin, but his relationships with eventual life partner Jim Hutton (Aaron McCusker) is basically a footnote.
    On other hand, Mercury's first proper gay lover, roadie Paul Prenter, is given far more screen time, and he essentially ends up as the movie's villain.
    The most flagrant bit of inaccuracy strikes Mercury down with AIDS two years before he was actually infected, simply to enable the script to position the band’s triumph at Live Aid as his resurrection. We Are The Champions indeed.
    The Wembley set, performed faithfully and in its full glory, is set up as a redemptive climax from the start of the movie, and to be fair, Malek pulls off an impressive facsimile of  pouts, yells, cheeky banter and calisthenic struts. It's clearly the highlight  of the movie and could make up for any of its shortcomings if the viewer is generous.
    By the way, did you know that every band member composed at least one of the group's anthem songs? While Mercury wrote the band's magnum opus and the equally grandiose Somebody To Love, bass guitarist John Deacon contributed Another One Bites the Dust and I Want To Break Free, drummer Roger Taylor was primarily responsible for Radio Ga Ga  and A Kind Of Magic, while lead guitarist Brian May came up with We Will Rock You and the searing Hammer To Fall. Eventually, the band decided that all compositions, no matter who wrote them, would be jointly credited to all four members, a fact the movie did get correct.
    Freddie Mercury was certainly one of the first out-and-proud gay artists who attained mass popularity, and his story deserves to be told truthfully and told well. Queen's music lives on to this day, and merits discovery by a younger audience who never even heard of the Beatles. This movie might achieve the second part, if not the first.

#bohemianrhapsody

CHECK IN FOR A GOOD TIME AT THE EL ROYALE

MOVIE
Bad Times at the El Royale
Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth
Director: Drew Goddard
Review Ray Chan

If you don’t know Drew Goddard, you’ll surely know of his works such as TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost, and the eerie The Cabin in the Woods, which looked at events from a deconstructionist perspective, an approach he takes to another level in his second movie, the noir Bad Times at the El Royale.
    It gathers a group of strangers in the lavish motel which straddles the California/Nevada border, once home to the stars but now, in the late 60s, fallen on hard times.
    The front desk is unoccupied when guests start turning up: Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm), a travelling salesman; Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), a young black aspiring singer; Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges), an avuncular yet addled Indiana priest; and a wordly-wise mystery woman in sunglasses (Dakota Johnson). A young clerk, Miles (Lewis Pullman), eventually emerges from the maintenance closet and rooms are duly assigned.
    Once that setting is established, the viewer is enticed by the promise of good times at the Bad Times, as each person, much like in most accomplished mystery offerings, has something to hide. The rooms are all surreptitiously monitored via one-way mirrors, which provides Goddard the means of presenting the backstory of each occupant.
    The movie is broken into chapters, each named for a room number (or maintenance closet), and often ending with a surprise reveal about the guests.  The plot keeps on thickening, with new details and possibilities arriving at a frantic pace.
    The way everyone’s stories mingle and merge while redolent songs play in the background evokes memories of Tarantino offerings that twist and turn and tell tales from different perspectives which have to be pastiched together to make sense. But this film is one that’s more interested in telling an entertaining story than in being mysteriously aloof. Goddard gives much screen time to each character, thereby keeping the audience in suspense as to who the main protagonist is.
    The story takes a turn when Chris Hemsworth, playing a cult leader, arrives on the scene. He plays a solid enough role, but his accent, drifting between Australian, English and forced American, can prove to be irritating, particularly as his enunciation has often left much to be desired.
    Bridges, Jones and Pullman are the outstanding actors here, pulling off their roles with passion, panache and pulchitrude. But despite their performances, and the potential shown in the first half hour, there’s a slightly disappointing end to the movie, likely because there is no central theme to link the disparate threads, while others may feel the conclusion is unsatisfactory as it appears to let the bad guys win.
    Ultimately, while the audience may be kept on the edge of their seats expecting the twisted journey to reach a memorable destination, they may feel that as it turns out, the trip to the El Royale itself was the main focus all along.

#BadTimesAtTheElRoyale

HOMAGE, HORROR AND HUMOUR

MOVIE
Predator: Hunting Season
Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay
Director: Shane Black
Review Ray Chan

Shane Black was a cast member in the original Predator movie, where he played a US mercenary who, like many others, met a grisly demise at the hands of the alien.
    Since then, he's made a name for himself as a writer (Lethal Weapon) and lately a director (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), so it's particularly poignant that he oversees the latest instalment in the franchise.
    It opens with a sequence all too common these days, as a space vessel crashes in a secluded forest on Earth … and, conveniently enough as is always the case, somewhere in the USA. On board is the hulking humanoid with the cavernous piranha mouth, dreadlocks that belong to a Caribbean warlord, and a tinge of anguished puzzlement in its jaundiced eyes.
    In the original film, this extra-terrestrial monster was a lurking threat, unveiled only at the climax. This time, multiple predators are visible in all their glory from the outset, as the story reveals that one of them is in fact the prey among his kind.
    Indeed, there's an almost philosophical discussion about why the name “Predator” isn't appropriate, as the invaders only attack people who are armed and don’t rely on humans as a source of food.
    Evolutionary biologist Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) proclaims they're more like sports trophy hunters, but of course calling them "predators" is "cooler." All the men in the Predator war room agree. The only ones who don't are the woman and suicidal Afro-American soldier Williams (Trevante Rhodes): symbolically, the characters most likely to be preyed upon (woman, black, mentally-ill, veterans) by their own culture.
    Overall, the characters are an eclectic bunch. Boyd Holbrook as Quinn McKenna heads a group of military misfits who find themselves in the firing line of not just the Predators but also a clandestine government agency intent on safeguarding their alien research work.
    Jacob Tremblay plays Quinn's son Rory, a young boy with autism who comes into contact with the alien technology. Quinn's wife is played by Australian Yvonne Strahovski, who gets a few good one-liners as a mother who finds her house overrun by the military folk as they hide from the approaching creatures.
    Interestingly, all the gore and carnage one can expect of Predator offerings is tempered by many laughs and witty exchanges along the way. Like all Black’s work, The Predator refuses to take itself seriously even for a moment.
    Yet in the midst of all the chaos, it does keep circling back to one specific theme: each main character feels connected to the Predator in some way, leading us to ponder the possibility of a fusion between human and monster.
    Some gaping plotlines aside, this movie is harmless entertainment which doesn't offer much in terms of thrills and originality.
    But as a showcase for its titular character, as well as a Deadpool-esque fun slice of action horror, Black certainly hits those proverbial nails on their heads, and his various homages to the first two Predator movies will make diehard fans go home happy.


#ThePredator

THE HISTORY BOOK REPEATS ITSELF

MOVIE
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Cher, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellen Skarsgard.
Review Ray Chan

The film that first brought ABBA's songs to cinematic life, Mamma Mia! The Movie, was probably the most joyous offering of 2008.
    It made a whopping $610 million at the box office and remains one of the UK's biggest hits on stage or screen.
    Now, 10 years later, fans get the chance to see whether the magic can be repeated.
    Written and directed by Ol Parker, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is as much a prequel as it is a sequel to its predecessor.
    Much like the first movie, it's apparent that the story has been contrived to fit around the vast array of songs in the ABBA catalogue. Sometimes they match, and at other times, the shoehorning seems a bit far-fetched.
    The narrative flits constantly from the days when the free-spirited, younger Donna (Lily James) first moved to the Greek island where she built her dream hotel, to the present where her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) has taken over the mantle from her now-deceased mother.
    She's refurbished the buildings, and to mark the grand opening, has invited Donna's besties Tanya and Rosie (Christine Baranski, Julie Walters) and her dads Sam, Bill, and Harry (Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Firth). The wannabe resort is now run by a mysterious, suave Latin gentleman (Andy Garcia), whose presence takes on a greater relevance later in the movie.
    Parker periodically interrupts the hectic lead-up to the big day with flashbacks to the time Donna arrived on the island, and how she met Sophie’s paternal triumvirate (all played by younger actors, of course).
    The screenplay, which Richard Curtis helped him develop, is a great mix of irascible jibes and waggish witticisms, balanced by musings on loneliness and loss, reflected in the lyrics of many of the songs.
    Some of the funniest lines go to British stand-up comedian Omid Djalili, playing a customs officer who makes insensitive comments about the visitors whose passports he has to stamp. He also pops up at the end of the credits, so make sure you hang around to catch it.
    It's interesting to note that of all the cast chosen to portray the younger generation, James bears the least resemblance to her respective older character; however, she has by far the best singing voice.
    Sigfried and husband Sky (Dominic Cooper) definitely appear slightly more worse off for wear than when they appeared in the first movie, but then that only adds to the realism of the chronicle, set five years later. Ironically, the older set (Brosnan, Firth, and especially Baranski) look to have hardly aged.
    The movie really starts to match the camp and rollicking fun of the 2008 film when Cher turns up (playing Sophie's grandmum), turning everything into a glammed and glittered karaoke party.
    Indeed, the way the song Fernando is slotted in to the storyline is both ingenious and amusing, and Cher does an impressive, straightforward version of the classic.
    And on that note, there's not much more one can say about the songs. Songwriters Ulvaeus and Andersson are a modern-day Rodgers and Hammerstein, having crafted many masterpieces that spanned the gamut from simple dance-along pop to compositions of sublime melodic and lyrical beauty.
    Like in the first film, the pair show up in unexpected places in the story, though I would have screamed in delight had Agnetha and Frida also been granted cameos.
    A couple of songs from the original movie are reprised here, including another flash mob sequence to Dancing Queen, but it's nice to see the inclusion of other pieces that didn't make it the first time round, such as Why Did It Have To Be Me; Angel Eyes; Andante, Andante; Knowing Me, Knowing You; and the glorious My Love, My Life, which wraps around the movie's most touching sequence involving Sophie and the older Donna (Meryl Streep).
    Other ABBA songs are cleverly snuck in despite not featuring majorly, such as a Greek band singing Kisses Of Fire and Hole In Your Soul, Hasta Manana blaring out in a bar, and the refrain from Chiquitita used as a musical background.
    Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again doesn’t pretend to be anything more than what it is: it doesn't aim to be an Oscar winner, and is happy to follow the silly, sweet, sun-splashed formula of the first instalment.
    The choreography is glorious, from the crowd scenes down to clever homages to the ABBA “face” videos, and the feel-good factor is amped to max. Go with a mind to be entertained and you will not be disappointed.
    Has the franchise met its Waterloo? Perhaps not. There are still many songs left in the repertoire to base a third part around, and success is guaranteed if the happy, singalong blueprint is adhered to. Surely Ring, Ring must be a contender.

@mammamiamovie

SIGHT FOR 'SAUR EYES

Movie
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard
Review Ray Chan

How much longer can the Jurassic franchise continue without becoming stale?
    When the dinos of Jurassic Park first roared on the screens in 1993, the novelty was fresh, and moviegoers flocked to view mechanical monsters as much as they were hoping for an entertaining story.
    But now, four sequels later, cynics can be forgiven for feeling that an invigorating shot in the arm is needed to rejuvenate the premise of reptiles gone wild due to human intervention.
    Fallen Kingdom, thankfully, offers that infusion of adrenaline. Returning writers Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow come up with a clever script that takes the majority of the action out of its usual element, adding a refreshing change of tack and scenery.
    Director J. A. Bayona, lately of A Monster Calls, manages to deliver effective scenes that are genuinely filled with terror and suspense, so vital in an era where viewers are jaded and bored with even the most sophisticated CGI effects.
    The story takes place three years after the events of Jurassic World, with a dormant volcano on the abandoned island of Isla Nublar, home of the jurassic sanctuary, threatening to bury the revived dinosaurs. 
    This catastrophic natural disaster compels former velociraptor trainer Owen (Chris Pratt) and Jurassic World manager Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) to team up once more as they try to save the creatures. At least this time Claire doesn't run around in high heels.
    But instead of any hint of romance being rekindled, there’s little emotional investment in the pair, as they spend more time thwarting attempts by profiteers to auction off the island’s occupants as weapons of mass destruction, along with the potential of cloning them.
    Indeed, the film shines brightest when the spotlight falls on the real stars, the computer-generated godzillas, who roar and rampage longer and stronger than their predecessors.
    Bayona, Trevorrow and Connolly also showcase the dinosaurs in a different light, generating a sense of sympathy for the creatures as they struggle to exist in the present world. 
    Ultimately, the movie is a fun romp, but it does pose serious questions, challenging viewers to consider whether it’s worth saving species once extinct, reproducing them and returning them to modern times.
    The poignant moments where innocent dinosaurs are killed by the volcano’s lava further raises the point of this dilemma. 
    This angle is scantly touched on, although the conclusion of Fallen Kingdom indicates it could well be the focal point of the next chapter, already projected to be the final instalment in the series. 

@JurassicWorld

SOLO EFFORT MORE OF THE SAME

MOVIE 
Solo
Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson
REVIEW RAY CHAN

There’s only so much a good director can do with a mediocre script, even if it's written by Star Wars veteran Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon.
    Perhaps the subject matter was too difficult. It seems like we already knew too much about Han Solo - played in the first instance, of course, by Harrison Ford – so his origin story would indeed truly have had to be original to make an impact.
    Ron Howard, brought in to replace original directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord at the last minute, does his best to infuse some vitality to the screen, but the final product, while competent enough, is far from perfect.
    Many scenes, involving various heists as the young Han (Alden Ehrenreich) teams up with a colourful band of thieves led by Woody Harrelson’s Tobias Beckett and his wife Val, are obviously intended to bedazzle, but somehow fall flat and really can’t compare to the wonderful opening sequences of say, Ford’s Indiana Jones movies, ironically enough.
    Ehrenreich does make a solid fist of it all, without ever quite matching Ford’s nonchalance and blaseness. There’s very little personality showing, except for a crush on Emilia Clarke’s mysterious Qi’ra, which, as Star Wars fans full know, would ultimately amount to nothing.
    On the other hand, Donald Glover’s charismatic Lando is a delight, as is Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the wisecracking droid, L3-37.
    The part Lando plays in helping Han secure the Millennium Falcon is revealed, while of course we are filled in on Chewbacca's backstory and how the gentle giant becomes Han's loyal ally.
    Overall, Solo is not quite a disaster and is enjoyable on certain levels. But the plot lacks a punchline to carry it, and the impotent climax doesn't help.
    In the end though, it’s more of the same, when it comes to Star Wars movies: barren landscapes, cantina scenes, various alien life forms, varied droids, battles in space.
    The film is more suited to the small screen than the silver. Let’s hope the next movie in the franchise breaks out of the carbonite that Solo appears to be trapped in.

#hansolomovie

NOT DEAD IN THE WATER ... YET

MOVIE 

Deadpool 2
Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Julian Dennison
REVIEW RAY CHAN

The first Deadpool movie poked fun at superhero films two years ago with an impertinent, profane and mirthful send-up of the genre.
    And if you liked that, chances are you'll enjoy the sequel, which continues down the same formulaic track, right from the unconventional opening sequences through to the post-movie scenes (there are two in mid-credits), with Ryan Reynolds – who co-wrote the story – breaking down the fourth wall every chance he gets.
    Deadpool 2 takes place after our hero – or even anti-hero - Wade Wilson, tragically loses his wife Vanessa just as the couple were contemplating starting a family, cueing up the odd Celine Dion interlude which had social media channels in a tizz.
    Wade finds himself protecting a mutant named Firefist (NZ's Julian Dennison, who seems to be stuck in the form of a pre-pubescent teen) from the time-travelling super-soldier Cable (Josh Brolin), who's ripped, humourless and a perfect foil for the effervescent protagonist.
    The most hilarious segments of the movie occur when Wade builds his own army to defeat Cable. Called the X-Force, the team had an illustrious career in the comics, but here comprises bargain-basement mutants such as Shatterstar, Zeitgeist, Bedlam and a chap called Peter, who's completely powerless but responded to the advertisement anyway. Another member is Vanisher, who in the funny books was a villain with ability to teleport; but in the movie, he's merely an invisible man. The character is played by a Hollywood mega-star, whose face can be seen for a few seconds if you watch closely enough.
    The only member of X-Force to show any mettle is Domino (Zazie Beetz), whose power is good luck, and who, armpit hair and all, eventually proves to be a useful ally to Wade, as do the returning duo of Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, along with her fellow X-Man and Japanese girlfriend Yukio.
    Reynolds uses every opportunity to plug his homeland Canada, and once again apologises for his role in the unfortunate 2011 Green Lantern adaptation; he did the same in the first movie. At one point Wade tells Cable to “Zip it, Thanos”, referencing Brolin’s role in Avengers: Infinity War. Brolin is surely the first actor to play two different characters in consequent Marvel Universe movies.
    There's no doubt that the unpredictable, helter-skelter origin story was deservingly lauded for its bold and creative approach. Ultimately though, one also needs to question whether the novelty will wear off.
    Deadpool 2 hasn't entirely lost the sense of freshness: while all the devices that elevated the original movie are here - the rapid-fire sarcasm; the over-the-top action; the ironic use of pop music  (two songs are by Australian bands) - there are still enough in-jokes and spectacularly choreographed battle scenes to keep the viewer entertained. 
    But the studio must realise that the brand runs the risk of turning stale by sticking to the same mix of violence, crass jokes and vulgar putdowns.
    Moviegoers know what to expect now from the Merc with the Mouth, and as much as they may enjoy this sequel and loved the the first movie, the shock value has lessened, and so may the enjoyment factor of future instalments in the franchise.

#deadpool2