Now screening [MA15+]

Director: Alexandre Aja

Runtime: 88 mins.

I’m not a big fan of the current 3D novelty that’s sweeping Hollywood productions; as far as I’m concerned, I’ll be impressed when I can watch a 3D film without the tacky glasses. I already wear glasses; why should I balance another pair? The recent preview of Piranha (with the obligatory subtitle, “3D”) had me worried as soon as the glaring credits started rolling – I thought I’d be doomed to a headache, but that never came. Instead, by the end of the film, I had a sore stomach alternately tortured by explicit gore and outrageous laughter.

Director Alexandre Aja gets straight down to business with his first victim, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss playing the same character from Jaws) falling victim to prehistoric piranhas set free from a subterranean lake by an earthquake. Within hours, Sheriff Julie Foster (Elizabeth Shue) is considering the closure of a beach bustling with brainless spring breakers, because she’s convinced of the real threat posed by the species identified by local piscatorial professional Goodman (Christopher Lloyd in a suitably overplayed role).

Meanwhile, on the busiest day of the Lake Victoria year, Foster’s kids are variously AWOL, with the two littlies marooned on a small island surrounded by hungry fish, and their erstwhile babysitter brother, Jake (Steven R. McQueen) chasing tail on a boat hired by Wild Wild Girls pornographer Derrick James (Jerry Connell), his leering cameraman, two bimbos, and Jake’s high school obsession Kelly (Jessica Szohr). Oh, and Ving Rhames has a minor role as a bullish Deputy who thinks a shotgun is a reliable weapon when taking on piranha, along with Eli Roth as a wet t-shirt contest organiser.

With all the characters introduced, Aja gets down to business in true ‘70s shtick, putting all of them in various dangerous situations that anyone can see from a mile away, and setting up some truly, deliciously hilarious attacks on the aforementioned intellectually deficient and mammarily overendowed, prompting several extended howls of delight from the audience. Some of the funniest scenes involve Connell’s loose cannon, Derrick, and his concerns over a piranha-aided circumcision.

There’s nothing very intellectually challenging here, but who would head along to a film like this expecting anything more than lots of tanned skin, inflated breasts, puffed chests, and screaming, bloodied water? Piranha 3D is one of those guilty pleasures –shameless and gratuitous, with a generous twist of gore and moralising.

***

TIM MILFULL

Be first to comment on this article

In cinemas Thursday [M]

Director: Nanette Burstein

Runtime: 102 mins.

Public Service Announcement: The American Association of Really Crap Trailers does not want you to see this movie. But to be honest, it’s a fine thing trailers these days do such an awful job of promoting movies and giving no real clue as to the actual feel of the thing. It makes reviews necessary.

Despite a terrible trailer, this is actually a relationship comedy that doesn’t make you want to claw at your face … except for the best reason, which is that awful ‘Oh no, they DID NOT just do/say that’ feeling that makes you wish a black hole would appear for you and the offending characters to disappear into. Erin (Drew Barrymore), a 31-year-old summer intern at a New York newspaper, meets Garrett (Justin Long—affectionately know forever more as “The Mac guy”), a record company executive forced to spend his days dealing with Short Stack clones instead of fighting for the bands he loves. They have a summer fling, but unfortunately have to end it when Erin returns to the west coast.

Barrymore is likable as the stuff-up who’s an intern in her 30s, but her interaction with Long makes her even more appealing; the two genuinely seem to like each other (they are an on/off couple in real life) and have great back-and-forth chemistry. Depending on their current relationship status, the premiere of this film could be very awkward and result in at least a couple of whispered ‘Bitch, please’ and ‘Go fuck yourself’ remarks from both parties. Someone get Joan Rivers on the red carpet, immediately.

Director Nanette Burstein (American Teen) artfully weaves the central question through the movie, while never directly asking it – who would you go the distance for?

Erin and Garrett deal with their separation in a variety of ways, from constant phone and online contact, to a highly unnecessary phone sex scene (the rhythm of the dialogue isn’t dead on and as a result, the scene falls flatter than open mic night).

However, the film has many good points. The city of New York isn’t overly romanticised; Drew Barrymore manages to play someone other than herself wearing more make-up (it’s been a while); the supporting cast bring the laughs (Jason Sudeikis as Box, Garrett’s friend and boss, and Christina Applegate as Erin’s older sister, Corinne) and some of the dialogue is ridiculously funny in an Apatow comedy kind of way. This isn’t verbatim, but here’s a sample where Garrett is about to go after Erin in the airport:

Airport security guard: Does she have a nice ass?

Garrett: Like the wind.

Airport security guard: What the hell does that mean?

Garrett: (frowns) I have absolutely no idea.

***½

KATIA NIZIC

Be first to comment on this article

In cinemas Thursday [M]

Director: Stuart Beattie

Runtime: 104 mins.

In the war against heavy, lack-lustre Australian films, Stuart Beattie and co. have most certainly won. Based on the first novel in the Tomorrow series by John Marsden, Tomorrow, When The War Began follows the journey of a group of Australian teens who divert from innocence to become soldiers when their country is unexpectedly invaded.

Our lead character, Ellie Linton (Caitlin Stasey of Neighbours fame) is the one who rallies when, after returning from a camping trip, she and her friends discover that an eerie silence has crept over their hometown of Wirrawee and their families are missing. These happy-go-lucky teens, usually more concerned with sex and Kevin’s (Lincoln Lewis) abs, must change quickly and without airs and graces if they are to survive. No phones, no parents, and especially no dogs. (Don’t get it? Go and see the movie, you chump.)

Each character has to battle with their own set of standards and morals and decide just how far they will go to win this war and fight back. Hopefully young women will find a fresh take on a teen role model with Caitlin Stasey’s lock ‘n’ load interpretation of Ellie. Other standouts include Homer, Ellie’s bad-boy neighbour (Deniz Akdeniz), and Robyn (Ashleigh Cummings), whose strict religious beliefs result in her stealing the scene approximately three-quarters of the way through.

The decision to install someone with Hollywood experience (albeit mainly writing credits in the form of Collateral, 30 Days Of Night and Pirates Of The Caribbean to name a few) was wise; it ensures the viewer is treated to a Hollywood look and pace, while not skimping on a great story or emotional gravity. The cinematography and lighting, courtesy of Director of Photography Ben Nott, also helps to pull the piece together thematically. The opening shot of Ellie driving a tractor across a large, sunny expanse of field is a brilliant contrast in tone and colour palette to the latter part of the movie, post-invasion discovery.

Set in Australia and made locally on a reported budget of $20 million: it’s a big production, but not  ridiculously so. Quite simply, Tomorrow, When The War Began is a credible Aussie action movie with the potential to interest even hard-sell international markets with its charm and – fairly important to the Americans – its pyrotechnics. Well done indeed. Here’s hoping for some sequels.

****

KATIA NIZIC

Be first to comment on this article

In cinemas now [M]

Director: Chris Morris

Runtime: 101mins.

Four Lions is a sympathetic buddy comedy about a cell of terrorists. You can only imagine that must have been a tough concept to sell to the producers. “It’s a comedy of terrors!” It’s British, because there’s no chance anyone in the US would make a movie like this. It’s the complete opposite of Team America: World Police – Four Lions humanises its suicide bombers, asking us to laugh at their stupidity but also recognise how close it is to our own. Omar (Riz Ahmed), Waj (Kayvan Novak), Barry (Nigel Lindsay), Faisal (Aidal Akhtar) and Hassan (Arsher Ali) aren’t inscrutable hatemongers, but ordinary dudes. They just want to be part of something bigger, to have a purpose in their lives even if it’s setting off bombs for nebulous reasons they don’t entirely understand. If you noticed there are five names when there’s a four in the title then well done you. It makes sense once you’ve seen the movie, or its spoiler-ific trailer.

The best gags in Four Lions come from the absurdity of the situations. Omar has a wife and son who take part in heart-warming scenes straight out of any movie where the supportive family stand by Daddy, made darkly humorous by the fact they’re encouraging him to blow himself up. Barry, the white convert to Islam, is the most vocal of the bunch and has a daft plan to bomb a mosque to radicalise moderate Muslims. Omar’s brother, who is much more devout, abhors violence and gets upset by water pistols. Most of the movie is just about the jihadists bickering, however, going around in circles while having conversations that illustrate how mundane they are but don’t add many laughs.

It’s similar to In The Loop in a lot of ways, which makes sense since it was co-written by one of that movie’s writers (Jesse Armstrong of Peep Show), and In The Loop’s director, Armando Iannucci, has collaborated with Chris Morris in the past. Both movies are very, very British and both exploit the same kind of dialogue-driven character humour. Four Lions and In The Loop take us behind the scenes to show that the ineptness of typical people is as common among politicians or jihadists as anybody. With In The Loop, however, seeing policy-makers believably portrayed as fools is frightening. By making terrorists into ineffectual idiots rather than dangerous idiots Four Lions is oddly comforting. These bumbling bombers are mostly just a danger to themselves, and there’s less satirical bite in Four Lions because of it.

***

JODY MACGREGOR

Be first to comment on this article

In Cinemas Thursday [R18+]

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Runtime: 109mins

Editor’s Note: Michael Winterbottom’s latest film has been stirring up controversy amongst international critics owing to its graphic depiction of violence against women. Some have lauded its unsparing insight into the mind of a horribly twisted individual, while others have condemned its disturbing scenes as exploitative and disingenuous. In an attempt to generate a balanced review, Rave sent the (dating) critical duo of Elwood Lee and Brooke Burgess to see the film and provide both male and female perspectives. Read on…

Elwood Lee: Based on Jim Thompson’s book of the same name, The Killer Inside Me has garnered a reputation as being a technically proficient yet harrowingly misogynist film that had no place being at the Sundance Film Festival. Although had I not known about its reputation, I don’t think I would have thought about it all that much, which is why my better half was also present at the screening to write about it.

Casey Affleck plays a small town sheriff by the name of Lou Ford who is tasked to chase prostitute Joyce Lakeland (Jessica Alba) out of town. Instead he enters a sadomasochistic relationship with her, while also finding out that she is having a relationship with the son of a wealthy construction magnate Chester Conway (Ned Beatty). Ford blames Conway for the death of his brother, and hatches a plan with Joyce to blackmail Conway. Unfortunately for Joyce, her relationship with Ford has ignited sociopathic tendencies that he was never able to shake off.

Affleck’s performance of Ford is somewhat terrifying and well thought out. He never overplays his role and he is completely believable. In fact everyone is very well cast and for the most part has a face that belongs to the period, particularly Kate Hudson. If you can get past being scared or offended by the film you may notice the production design, costumes and photography as being undeniably exquisite.

Not everything is perfect however, as the film is let down by the central connection between Ford and Lakeland. So much of Lou Ford’s motivation is dependent on his recent misdeeds regarding Joyce Lakeland, that you wonder why director Winterbottom did not dedicate more time into developing the relationship a bit further. 

On the whole, if you love film noir, pulps and classic hard-boiled crime fiction of any medium, you owe it to yourself to see the film.

Brooke Burgess: The Killer Inside Me isn’t much of a date movie, and if you’ve read any of the angry reviews you probably wouldn’t treat it like one. Controversial films are something of a shared interest of ours though, so just as Elwood and I suffered through Antichrist together, we decide to grimace through Michael Winterbottom’s latest work as a team. Now that the film is over, I’m realising the hardest part of seeing it is telling people that I really enjoyed it. 

I had very low expectations for The Killer Inside Me. Almost every review I’d read had condemned it as misogynist and brutally violent – and it is both of those things, but it is also well written, well performed and beautifully shot.

Casey Affleck is a seemingly trustworthy small town cop with sociopath tendencies who is struggling to conceal his brutal crimes. And his crimes are incredibly savage – this is not a film for the squeamish. The misogyny in question isn’t hard to find either. All of the female characters in the film are used as sex objects and punching bags, sometimes both at once.

Although I went into this film looking for it’s negative qualities, it really surprised me. The violence is far from glamorous or titillating, and although it was sickening it succeeded in illustrating the cruel side of Affleck’s character. His presence on screen is so full of tension it’s like watching children play with a loaded gun. No one likes seeing a woman beaten to a pulp, but this is a film about a killer who kills women (as many killers do). He isn’t a hero; he’s a despicable and disturbed man who is portrayed as such. Expecting the audience to misread this character as a hero is unfairly underestimating them.   

I’m probably offending someone by getting behind this movie, but at the end of the day I’m just not sure it deserves to be condemned. I found a lot to like about the film, and while I was uneasy about the violence, I wasn’t offended. That is clearly not going to be the case with everyone, so the only real piece of advice I can give here is probably don’t take your brand new GF or BF to see The Killer Inside Me.   

****

ELWOOD LEE

***½

BROOKE BURGESS

Be first to comment on this article

In cinemas now (MA15+)

Director: Vincenzo Natali

Runtime: 104mins.

Science fiction horror has been relegated to video shelves of late, and probably with good reason too. There has been an endless number of cheap looking, badly written cash-in’s and remakes that don’t go anywhere near the heights of what David Cronenberg or John Carpenter accomplished in the genre back in the ‘80s. Splice is a breath of fresh air, considering it’s an original idea and has the balls to be a slow burn creep fest that gets seriously out of control by the end of the movie.

Vincenzo Natali who is best known for his directorial debut The Cube takes us into the world of genetic engineering. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play Clive and Elsa, rock star husband and wife geneticists (think Mates Of State, but as elite scientists) who have successfully spliced animal genes together to make new animal hybrids. They both wish to move on to human and animal splicing in a bid to revolutionise science and medicine, but are barred from following that path by their parent company N.E.R.D.

Clive and Elsa decide to take the next step in secret, and are able to successfully create the first human animal hybrid that they name Dren. The creature grows at an accelerated pace and Clive and Elsa are forced to take care of it as if it were their child. Which wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the child didn’t have an animal’s killer instinct, a stinger, and bits of other animals. Also they would be arrested immediately for committing crimes against humanity if she was seen. 

The trailer paints the film as a Species rip off. Although sex is a large part of the movie, Splice is thematically more in tune with the likes of Eraserhead or every other story where parents are forced to take care of an unwanted child.

Splice doesn’t always succeed, characters make questionable choices, and the acting is uneven between the two leads (I still think they’re cool though). On the other hand, the script cheats and shocks its way through plot contrivances that result in a lot of fun and moral outrage at what was happening on screen.

The production value is also comparatively higher than most low budget Sci-fi horror. Dren herself is a visual effects achievement. Blending practical performance with CGI that makes the realism of the work stand out, and creeping out audiences with something that is familiar but not quite right.

Splice is not a movie for everybody, but if you want to see an awesome creature film that for the most part, doesn’t back down to formula, I’d suggest you give this one a try.

****

ELWOOD LEE

Be first to comment on this article