Film fest '16: Day One

Another year, another festival.

Missed the first week of the festival, so no Green Room review. Sigh.

Anyway. Day One was all ushering. To prepare I did no research on any of the films so you lovely people can get completely fresh takes on these movies.

Let's get into it.

The Road (Zhang Zanbo, 2015)

A fly-on-the-wall documentary about the construction of a new highway in central China, The Road is fascinating. As construction progresses, we follow a variety of different people affected by the massive project — from the people building the road to the people whose lives will be affected by it. 

From an elderly woman complaining about the lack of compensation for the damage to her house, to a local village trying to save their temple, the film does a good job of documenting the collateral damage of the highway’s construction. 

An eye-opening look at the people affected by such massive endeavours. It feels like the same kind of graft and corruption seen in 19th century America — people get rich, others get hurt, and those in power look the other way.

Because the focus is so broad, it does lose some steam in the middle, but overall, The Road is a warm, occasionally sad and funny ground-level view of one of the major political and economic powers of the 21st century.

Kate Plays Christine (Robert Greene, 2016)

A queasy mix of documentary and fiction, this movie tracks an actress attempting to get into character as Christine Chubbuck. Chubbuck is infamous for her on-air suicide in 1974 — an incident which inspired the classic movie Network. 

It’s been a day since I watched it, and I’m still not sure if I liked it.I admire its attempts to examine how we re-construct and remediate tragedy, but at the same time, its focus on the central character comes off as self-serving an pretentious. It may be the intention to juxtapose the harsh reality of Chubbuck’s life with that of the actress trying to play her, but it just doesn’t sit well. Despite the filmmakers’ efforts, it feels like they end up repeating the sins they are trying to skewer.

The final denouement is easy to predict, and just feels extremely contrived — you don’t feel like you’ve learned anything new.

It’s a strange, troubling movie, and I don’t think I liked it, but I would recommend it just on the basis that it feels like a good catalyst for a conversation about the issues the movie tries to tackle.

Operation Avalanche (Matt Johnson, 2016)

A by turns hilarious and terrifying mock doc about a pair of hapless CIA agents trying to fake the moon landing, Operation Avalanche was the highlight of yesterday’s screenings. 

No spoilers. Check it out for yourselves. 

Star Trek Beyond: A step forward for the rebooted franchise

I am not a Star Trek fan. I've watched a smattering of episodes from the various TV shows, and watched a few of the movies, and that is about as far as it goes.

I enjoyed JJ Abrams' first Star Trek film, but Into Darkness was just a poorly constructed story with more lens flares than brain cells. While the characters were still engaging, the script was all over the place and it was not nearly as clever as it should have been. I don't know much about Star Trek, but I know enough to recognize that the whole point is the idea of resolving conflicts without blowing stuff up. That, and exploring. And Kirk boning anything with a pulse.

This one had three things going for it which made it one of my 'must-sees' for this year.

Firstly, Abrams, not the strongest storyteller around, would not be back to direct. His replacement was Justin Lin, who is responsible for giving the Fast and Furious movies something they've never had: a sense of fun.

And finally, Sofia Boutella, one of the highlights of Kingsman: The Secret Service last year, was in it.

The story is pretty typical Trek. The Enterprise goes on a rescue mission to an undiscovered planet hidden behind a nebula. The ship is ambushed and destroyed by a mysterious warlord called Krall (Idris Elba).

The crew are scattered across the planet -- Sulu, Uhura and the bulk of nameless red and gold shirts have been captured and imprisoned at Krall's base; Kirk and Chekov (Anton Yelchin) by the wreck of the Enterprise; meanwhile odd couple McCoy (Karl Urban) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) are forced to help each other out.

Scotty (co-writer Simon Pegg) is rescued by a mysterious alien Jaylah (Boutella), who may have the key to getting the crew off-planet.

Unlike its predecessors, Beyond feels like a one-shot, self-contained story. There are a few callbacks to the previous movies (all centered around Leonard Nimoy's Spock), but you could slot this in with the other Trek movies and it would not feel out of place.

The key cast get plenty to do, which gives this movie an emotional centre lacking from the previous reboots.

Chris Pine's Kirk has not had much character building in the previous movies, but the script here is based on him figuring out his reasons for sticking with Starfleet. It's a good arc that echoes his father's sacrifice at the beginning of Star Trek 09, and finally allows Pine to step out of the Shat's shadow.

The interplay between Urban's Bones and Quinto's Spock is a delight. Their chalk-and-cheese dynamic is the comic highlight of the movie, but also builds into a quietly moving resolution.

Of course with such a large ensemble, some people get short shrift -- Jon Chu and Anton Yelchin are fine, but fade into the background a bit.

Of the new characters, Boutella's Jaylah gets the most to do -- she plays an alien scavenger who's family were massacred by Krall's minions. It's a cool character -- Jaylah has used archaic Federation tech to construct a Home Alone-style series of traps and camouflage that has allowed her to survive alongside her enemy.

Jaylah's not the backbone of the movie (that's Kirk), but she does have some nice moments which tie into Kirk's arc. They could have fleshed out her story a bit more, but that's nitpicking. No spoilers, but the way her character ends up, it would be nice to see her turn up in the next movie.

Sadly, the villain remains as anonymous as most traditional Star Trek villains. Idris Elba's Krall is merely functional. While he has a potentially interesting grievance, we don't hear about it until the movie is almost over. It's not a fatal flaw, but it means the final showdown does lack a certain punch.

As far as the direction goes, Justin Lin does a terrific job. There's a few moments of overly frenetic action which are confusing, but he has a better handle on how to play out dramatic beats than his predecessor. Where Abrams is obsessed with zipping from one scene to the next in an ADD rush that feels like an extension of his TV background, Lin lets everything play out naturally. The opening sequences, showing the routine on board the ship, is pretty languid and is a nice contrast to the action.

While he knows his way around the bells and whistles, Lin seems to have a better handle on the characters, and tracking their stories. It will be interesting to see where his career goes next, Trek 4 or otherwise.

Ultimately it is the character beats which linger more than the traditional action and plot turns, and make Beyond the most emotionally resonant of this new batch of Trek movies. In that respect, it is a considerable success.

Definitely worth checking out.

Spy movie review: Central Intelligence

Another year, and more spy movies. This one is a comedy featuring the Rock -- reason enough to check it out.

This guy has been called 'franchise viagra', and this movie is no exception. Let's get into it. 

This review contains some spoilers.

Kevin Hart plays Calvin, a man stuck in a dead end job who feels he peaked in high school. With his 20 year high school reunion closing in, he s feeling especially down.

Until His Rockness, playing a bullied boy-turned-superbuff spy, turns up to catch up.

For the first few minutes, I thought I was in for a bit of a snoozer. While Hart made a believably put-upon Everyman, there weren't that many laughs, and the pace dragged.

And then Dwayne Johnson turns up as Hart's former classmate Bob Stone, and it's like the movie gets a dose of comedy steroids.

Part of it is charisma, the other part is the character.

Bullied at high school, and scarred by an embarrassing incident at his final assembly (as seen in the trailers), Bob is a wonderfully mixed up sidekick.

A lover of both guns and unicorns, Stone is the living embodiment of the old saying that no matter how old you are, you are still the same person you were in high school.

Stone is like an overgrown teenager. Still in hero-worship of Calvin, he yearns to be Calvin's friend, and to help Calvin out of his slump. Sure, he also needs Calvin's skills as an accountant to help on a secret mission, but it's all about the bromance here.

 The role requires Johnson to go to some extremely vulnerable and weird-borderline-stalkerish places, and he does so with complete sincerity. He is never too cool for the material, never allowing his ego to upset the character's extreme awkwardness. 

The result is one of his best performances. And his willingness to send himself up serves Hart as well.

In the role of straight man, Hart is a great counter-weight to Johnson.

Bob Stone is clearly insane, and Calvin is never completely won over by his new friend's antics.

 The rest of the cast are fine, but no one approaches the central duo for yucks.

Aaron Paul turns up as Johnson's deceased partner. Despite being the villain, he gets nothing to do (although the flashback to his faked death is hilarious).

Jason Bateman turns up as Johnson's former high school nemesis, and, in a surprisingly strong cameo, Melissa McCarthy appears as Johnson's high school crush. It's a sweet inversion of expectations, and adds another layer to Stone's character -- despite all his subterfuge and duplicity, his sincerity is real.

Overall, Central Intelligence is a decent comedy pumped a few notches above average by a great star in a great part. The 'spy' part of the movie is a bit underwhelming (the movie could use some better villains and more ambitious set pieces), but it doesn't matter when the laughs are this consistent.

Orange Is The New Black, S4 review: Finale & Closing Thoughts

'Toast Can't Never Be Bread'

Poussey's body is still lying in the kitchen, a day after her death.

This is the point when we finally see just how full of shit Piscetella really is -- chewing gum while giving Caputo some BS story about Poussey attacking Bayley.

Speaking of which, Bayley is basically a basket case.

While it initially looks like Caputo will grow a pair, he tows the company line. 

He's caught in an understandable, though reprehensible, bind -- tow the company line and throw Bayley under the bus, or blame Poussey for being provocative.

In the end, he goes off-script to defend Bayley. This pushes the prisoners too far.

They riot. In the commotion, Humphrey loses his holdout pistol. 

Dya picks it up and aims it at him.

Fade to black. See you next year. Goddammit!

Flashback: Poussey gets a send-off, and it's magic. 

On her last day before heading overseas, her phone is stolen in a club. Poussey runs out to try and catch the thief, but winds up on a series of surreal adventures ala After Hours.

A snapshot of better times, it is the perfect way to say goodbye to one of the series' best characters.

Final thoughts: Season 4 is a major step up from a rather maudlin third season. The storylines are stronger, familiar characters get interesting arcs while other background characters finally get fleshed out. 

And the writers addressed the lack of a major antagonising force in the last season with a real rogues gallery of absolute shits: Piscetella and the new guards, Linda and MCC, even Caputo -- all are great additions who put our core cast through their paces.

Overall, this is a terrific season that manages to build upon everything that made the show great -- great characters, great twists and a few good laughs. Even better -- it feels like it's barely getting started. 

Based on this cliffhanger, Season 5 is going to be a doozy!

For previous episodes

Episode 1 

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Orange Is The New Black, S4 - Episode Twelve: 'The Animals'

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....................... 

Poussey is dead.

Thanks to the internet, I was aware that she died, but it still hit like a punch to the stomach. And the way it went down just made it even more tragic.

Poussey was the most consistently sympathetic character on the show. She had her lapses -- like everyone else -- but she never sank to the same levels as Nicky or even Piper. She was smart and self-aware enough to recognise when something was not right (Vee) and if she faltered (her drinking last season), she had a solid support structure that could help her out (Taystee primarily).

Poussey was a great character, and Samira Wiley was a terrific, extremely empathetic presence. On a show filled with extremely flawed and despicable people, Poussey stood apart.

Let's get through the plot.

The white, black and Latina inmates decide to form an alliance to get rid of Humphrey -- soon the target of their scheme has shifted to Piscetella, the main cause behind all the discontent.

Caputo learns about the previous day's antics from CO Bayley and is PISSED. Initially, you think Humphrey's bacon is cooked -- but then Piscetella turns up.

Piscetella has had Caputo's number from the beginning, and in any contest between them, he would come out the winner. This scene really cements how far Caputo has fallen -- it s ultimately his absences from the prison, and his inability/unwillingness to be hands-on with imposing order on the new guards, which have been responsible for the problems going on in Litchfield.

Instead of kowtowing to MCC and Linda, he forgot what his job was.

Having removed himself, and fired all of his former allies, Caputo is powerless. Piscetella is able to blackmail Caputo into impotence.

Following this humiliation, Caputo finally goes to the one person who can understand what he is going through: Fig (Alysia Reiner). Never thought I would be happy to see her again, but look how times have changed.

In typical fashion, what should be a moment of respite for Caputo turns out to be more hell: he finds out that the new dorm at Litchfield is for the NEW batch of prisoners. Ugh. Season Five is going to be GREAT.

The episode ends with the inmates going on strike to force Piscetella to resign. As we've already seen, Piscetella sees anyone who is not one of his men as an enemy to be crushed.

And that's when Poussey died -- chocked to death by an incompetent guard with no training while the other guards did nothing.

Best zinger: "I betrayed everything I believed in for water with bubbles and soft sheets!" -- Yoga

Flashback: Baxter "Gerber" Bayley (Alan Aisenberg), the young rookie guard. 

These flashbacks gain even more weight when he -- however inadvertently -- killed Poussey.

We see him as a kid, getting arrested for trespassing and underage drinking, losing his job for giving too many free ice creams to pretty girls, and then egging houses. 

Real simple, dumb stuff that emphasises how immature he is.

Bayley just comes across as a silly little boy -- not bad necessarily, but susceptible and clumsy.

By the end of the episode, Caputo's warning that the prison will change him sadly comes to pass.

Bayley is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's barely an adult, and is completely out of his depth in Litchfield.

Final thoughts: What a gut punch. Poussey's death overshadows everything leading up to it, but this episode really cements the conflicts and pressures which have been building since last season's cliffhanger.

For previous episodes

Episode 1 

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9 

Episode 10

Episode 11

Orange Is The New Black, S4 - Episode Eleven: 'People Persons'

 The discovery of the guard's body throws everything into the shit. This is where Caputo's absence from Litchfield is really starting to cause problems.

Piscetella takes the discovery of the body as an excuse to take his Judge Dredd tactics to the extreme -- interrogation; sleep deprivation. 

Meanwhile, Healey realises that Lolly was telling the truth. In a daze, he leaves Litchfield. 

Judy, Yoga (Constance Shulman) and Luschek take drugs and share their insecurities --  cue the world's most disturbing three-way.

With the prison in lockdown, and no one overseeing his behaviour, Humphrey (Michael Torpey) is really revealing his sadistic side here. Torpey is really terrific in the role -- he manages to be completely unassuming and sound completely reasonable.

God, I want to punch him in the face

He has Susan and her ex-girlfriend Maureen fight for the guards' entertainment.

Enraged by her would-be girlfriend's insults, Susan flies into a rage and beats her to a pulp.

Healey tries to drown himself in the lake, but is called back to reality by the ringing of his cellphone.

Alex tries to give herself up but Healey has already told Piscetella what Lolly has done. As the episode ends, Lolly is dragged into the psych ward.

Best Zinger: "Are you kidding me? ... I killed a cop with his own gun! Wait... did I get caught for that?" -- Freida (after not being picked for questioning)

Flashback: Susan. Haven't had one from her for awhile. 

We start with Susan at her job: a greeter at a big, Costco-like store. While she is as manic as ever, she gets 'Employee of the Month'. 

Despite her moves into adulthood, Susan is still pre-adolescent: she lives with her sister and her boyfriend, and still enjoys toys and games.

Trouble ensues when her sister wants to go away for the weekend.

A bit lost, she finds one of the kids she knows from the store she works at, and invites him home to keep her company for the weekend.

The kid wants to go home.

It doesn't end well.

Final thoughts: With only two more episodes to go, this season has taken a deep dive into pitch black nihilism. Dark and depressing, this is one of the strongest episodes of the seasons -- and the series as a whole.

For previous episodes

Episode 1 

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Orange Is The New Black, S4 - Episode Ten: 'Bunny, Skull, Bunny, Skull'

The big story here is Aleida Diaz. 

She finally leaves prison and gets picked up by her boyfriend Cesar's OTHER girlfriend. For a hot minute I thought I was about to see the world's most uncomfortable road trip, followed by the two women finally bonding. Hahahaha. Yeah right. 

After that reunion goes nuclear, Aleida tries to go it alone but discovers all her savings have been wasted.

Sadly, while Aleida is scrabbling outside to find her footing, Dya falls in with Maria's crew. Gloria tries to help out, but Dya doesn't want another mother.

Sister Sarah Jane tries to sneak a phone to Sophia and gets found out. This leads to an interesting twist -- Caputo takes a picture and gives the mobile to Danny, who is running a website that airs MCC's dirty laundry. Turns out the warden is not that bad after all.

Among the other things that happen:

Susan makes up with her would-be girlfriend -- who then breaks up with her, just to make them 'even'. This throws Susan out of whack.

Maritza throws up the mouse Humphrey forced her to eat. A few of the guards take note of her odd behaviour, and think it might be morning sickness.

It turns out they think Humphrey might have raped Maritza. Sadly, while the guards think something might be going on AND they think Humphrey is a weirdo, they decide to do nothing. 

Taystee organises movie night -- sadly she picks The Wiz. Not only is the movie... what it is, the white power mob try to start a race riot.

The episode ends bitter-sweet. Thankfully Aleida and Cesar's ex end up getting back onside. 

On the other hand, the guard's body is found when the work crew dig up the garden.

Best zinger: "Men are stupid. And their peckers all got ADD" -- Aleida

Flashback: None again -- instead we get Aleida on the outside. These cutaway scenes are quite tense, as Aleida tries to re-aquaint herself with the outside world. The writers throw in a series of red herrings to make it feel like every time she makes a mistake or acts out, Aleida will be heading back to Litchfield.

Final thoughts: Once again the lack of flashbacks pays dividends. A lot of stories and characters are brought together in interesting configurations, and we get a nice arc for Aleida. 

For previous episodes

Episode 1 

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9