All posts in category Film Reviews

Review: Bad Neighbours, aka Neighbors (2014) — Rogen/Byrne vs. Efron Pledge Their Comedy Chops

From director Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek), Bad Neighbours features Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) and Rose Byrne (Insidious) as new parents Mac and Kelly Radner; a couple teetering on the brink of full-fledged adulthood, but having a hard time letting go of their youth. Enter a fraternity led by Zac Efron (17 Again) and Dave Franco (21 Jump Street), who move into the house next door. When attempts to initially bond with the frat fail and the inevitable late-night partying commences, Mac and Kelly find themselves in a desperate turf war where they fight for their right to not party.

As we know by now, Rogen is an actor that finds it hard to stretch from his normal shtick of lazy, stoner, slob-guy. The good news is that — at this stage, at least — Rogen has yet to wear out his welcome as he continues to place his characters in interesting situations surrounded by talented, funny co-stars. The premise of Bad Neighbours is a simple Hatfield/McCoy-like premise of two warring parties, which is broad enough to simply place hilarious people into the situation and let funny things happen.

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Review: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Guest review by Emmanuel Giakoumakis.

There aren’t many directors who are worthy of the notoriety of Martin Scorsese. The list of awards and the mark he has made on pop culture is remarkable; as such The Wolf of Wall Street is sure to add to his list of accolades.

My initial response to the trailers was to score the film to the classic story of Gordon Gecko (Wall Street, 1987). A film which received nowhere near the reception that Scorsese’s masterpiece has received and nowhere near the amount of recognition that both films deserve but I soon realised after considering the director’s past work that it was much more similar to something else I’ve seen. The film I couldn’t help but liken it to was Goodfellas, another remarkably true story whose protagonist shared a similar fate.

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The Best Films of 2013

Luke Miksa's: The Negative Space Bar

2013 was a pretty fantastic year for cinema — as long as you look past onset of blockbuster/superhero fatigue, often ridiculous Australian release schedules for smaller films (aka Stupid Australian Release Schedules), and a strange fascination with the apocalypse arriving a year too late. But I kid; for every annoyance, the medium produces many things to be excited about. I’m keeping this positive!

Let’s get down to it:

Missing the cut: The Wolverine, The Way Way Back, Side Effects, The Kings of Summer

I havn’t seen these (mainly due to Stupid Australian Release Schedules) but I’d probably dig them: The Wolf of Wall Street, Her, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, 12 Years a Slave, Short Term 12

Cloud Atlas was released in Australia in 2013 (Stupid Australian Release Schedules), but for the sake of this list it will be treated as a 2012 film.

10. Captain Phillips

The second-most intense film of the year (number one is below), which is made more so due to the fact that the incredible events depicted in Captain Phillips actually happened (sans the Hollywood artistic license). Tom Hanks knocks this role out of the water with an incredibly strong showing, and his performance in the final scenes left me in shocked silence for a while. Director Paul Greengrass knocked this one up a notch, even with his visceral, shaky-shaky handheld style (which I’m generally not a fan of).

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by Luke Miksa on January 14, 2014 • Permalink

Posted in Film Reviews, Lists

Tagged American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Drinking Buddies, Gravity, Movies, Pacific Rim, Rush, The Spectacular Now, The World's End, This is the End, You're Next

Posted by Luke Miksa on January 14, 2014

https://sorryimlate.com/2014/01/14/the-best-films-of-2013/

Review: Gravity (2013) — Bringing Art Back to the Multiplex; an Out-of-This-World Big-Screen Experience

From Oscar-nominated Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity is the long-awaited directorial follow-up to the filmmaker’s acclaimed and ground-breaking dystopian science-fiction film Children of Men, released all the way back in 2006. Seven years is a long time between films — especially with the buzz that Children of Men generated with audiences — but thankfully Gravity is every bit the worthy continuation in Cuarón’s stellar filmography (which also includes the best Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Gravity is minimalist sci-fi at its best: veteran astronaut Kowalski (George Clooney) leads his final space expedition and finds himself guiding rookie engineer Dr. Stone (Sandra Bullock) on her first. When debris irreparably damages their shuttle during a space-walk, the duo find themselves at the mercy of the vast isolation of space with time, and oxygen, running out and obstacles mounting.

No kidding, the WHOLE MOVIE looks like this!

Gravity is a visually transcendent film: amongst the best looking films in the past ten years, potentially amongst the best of all time. Cuarón made a name for himself with Children of Men with his complex visual compositions and unusually long shot takes. Gravity steps this up to another level; the opening shot of the film is a staggering 13 minutes without cuts! Considering the number of camera movements in that single shot — which starts out serenely and winds up in total chaos — along with the awe-inspiring photography (courtesy of Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life), it’s no wonder that Gravity has esteemed visual film-makers such as James Cameron and Rian Johnson gushing its praises.

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by Luke Miksa on October 5, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Film Reviews

Tagged Alfonso Cuarón, Film Reviews, George Clooney, Gravity, Movies, Sandra Bullock, Sci-Fi

Posted by Luke Miksa on October 5, 2013

https://sorryimlate.com/2013/10/05/review-gravity-2013-bringing-art-back-to-the-multiplex-an-out-of-this-world-big-screen-experience/

MIFF 2013 Review: Drinking Buddies (2013) — A Loosely Scripted but Massively Charming Bender

Independent darling and micro-budget director extraordinaire Joe Swanberg has been a busy guy: he has over a dozen directing credits to his name in the past ten years, not to mention a large number of acting appearances and producing credits. A pioneer of the “mumblecore” movement has certainly been churning out the features, which have honestly not made any major waves outside of the festival circuit. The romantic comedy Drinking Buddies may be his mainstream breakthrough picture; a slightly higher budget has brought with it a more recognisable cast, which in turn should make it more attractive to a wider audience. The good thing is that Drinking Buddies does deserve a wider audience due to its charming leads and realistic take on modern romance.

This promo pic is phony: Jake Johnson has a beard throughout the movie.

The film follows Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson), workers at a Chicago brewery. They share an undeniable chemistry; they drink hard and they flirt hard. These feelings go unspoken due to both of them being in relationships with other people (Ron Livingston and Anna Kendrick, respectively). Things come to a head when the two couples take a weekend vacation that rocks the foundations of both these partnerships, who then have to traverse rocky terrain filled with sexual tensions and relationship hurdles.

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by Luke Miksa on August 28, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Film Reviews

Tagged Anna Kendrick, Drinking Buddies, Film Reviews, Jake Johnson, Joe Swanberg, MIFF, Olivia Wilde, Romantic Comedies, Ron Livingston

Posted by Luke Miksa on August 28, 2013

https://sorryimlate.com/2013/08/28/miff-2013-review-drinking-buddies-2013-a-loosely-scripted-but-massively-charming-bender/

MIFF 2013 Review: You’re Next (2013) — A Game-Changing New Twist on an Old Classic

You’re Next has a pretty basic premise… on the surface: Erin (Australia’s Sharni Vinson) joins her boyfriend Crispian (AJ Bowen) as his somewhat dysfunctional family gathers together at a secluded house to celebrate his parents anniversary. Things go awry when strangers with sinister intentions pay the family a visit, although these trespassers may have underestimated one of their targets.

The only thing is You’re Next is far from a basic home-invasion picture, as all pre-conceived notions of how the narrative will play out are shattered by the second act: this is a film that creatively gives the horror genre a huge shot in the arm, as it takes some incredible risks creatively, and it’s astonishing to see the results successfully played out on screen.

Point Break 2: Dead Kitties

You’re Next is the creative result of the collaborative effort of the new-wave of American horror film-makers; led in this instance by director Adam Wingard (V/H/S) and featuring fellow directors Joe Swanberg (dir. Drinking Buddies) and Ti West (dir. The Innkeepers) in acting roles. These young film-makers are revitalising the genre by acknowledging that current audiences are well aware of the generic horror tropes — in this case the clichés which are found in the home-invasion sub-genre — and go out of their way to subvert the audiences expectations, which makes for a surprising and enjoyable thrill-ride.

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