Film Review - News of the World (2021)

News of the World is a new Netflix film directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Tom Hanks as Captain Kidd, a man who travels the post Civil War United States reading the news to people in towns but one day he sees a little girl (Helena Zegel) who is orphaned and must be returned to a distant relative and so the two head off in search of her new home.

 

News of the World is a good film and the second film Hanks has made in the past year the other being Greyhound where I really wish I got to see this at the cinema as Dariuz Wolski did a gorgeous job as cinematographer on this movie with those wide open ranges, a duststorm, night time scenes this movie at times is a real feast for the eyes and like Greyhound it deserved to be seen on the big screen where you could really soak in the visual details in the glory they deserve.

 

Also I think Hanks does a great reliable job as always and I enjoyed his character quite a bit in this film a man who lived through the Civil War and now goes from place to place telling busy people the news of the day and some of the stories he reads have a particular interest to what is going on in 2021 and perhaps not much does change that much with the passage of time.

 

Next I have to talk about the little girl in this movie Ms Zegel who is also very good here, its hard to hold your own against a star like Hanks but like in Captain Phillips and Barkhad Abdi Zegel proves herself to be more than up to the task and she forms a nice chemistry with Hanks that really adds to the enjoyment of the film.

 

Before I do end I will also say that the film towards the end does start to get a little long, the film runs about 2 hours and in the last 25 minutes or so the journey begins to drag in a way that you want it to be over despite the beautiful visuals though I might have felt differently if I had seen this movie at the cinema instead of on my TV at home where movies can have a unnatural drag to them most of the time even if you love the film.

 

And so that was News of the World and I recommend this movie despite the ending feeling a little longer than it should, 3 out of 5.

 

Film Review - Promising Young Woman (2021)

 Promising Young Woman is written and directed by Emerald Fennell and stars Carey Mulligan as Cassie, a once promising Med student who dropped out and now lives with her parents (Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown) and works in a coffee shop but the circumstances of her leaving medical school are never far from her mind and she is determined to close that chapter of her life for good.

 

Promising Young Woman is a movie that will rattle some for sure but it was one that I personally really enjoyed and first off Ms Fenell’s script and direction are excellent, there are many times where the storytelling takes a lot of twists and turns and goes from being a fun romantic comedy to a dark revenge thriller and not one time did it feel like a jarring shift in the tone and her direction with its bubble-gum like visuals are beautiful to look at on a nice cinema screen as at times like bubble-gum it is very sweet to look at but that illusion is ready to be burst at any time.

 

Secondly Ms Mulligan is simply the best I’ve ever seen her be in a movie, she is someone I have been hit and miss about over the years but here she delivers in a big big way, she understands Cassie and what drives her down to the bone and the way she is able to transform herself from being this young girl to a determined woman in one scene after another is just fantastic to see and so often its just in her eyes and her face, she will have some tough competition but I would love to see her nominated for this work.

 

Also the casting of the men in this movie is something I want to touch on briefly as Ms Fennell does a very interesting thing with it, she doesn’t cast these big football/baseball playing type of men in those roles they are guys who look more like the man next door, the type that would wave to you every morning or ask how your doing every once in a while and they have very young baby face type faces or are people who sure might have done bad things in university but it was a lifetime ago they’ve moved on and settled down but somethings things can’t just be like that and you move on the sins of the past will always find a way.

 

Lastly the jukebox soundtrack is really good at one point Paris Hilton starts playing and the way its played in the movie makes you want to dance along to it and there are some other songs that play in the film as well that are also very effective.

 

And so that was Promising Young Woman and it was well worth the wait with a truly great performance at the centre of it, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - The Dry (2020)

The Dry is based off of the novel and stars Eric Bana as Aaron Falk a Federal Police detective who returns to his hometown of Kiewarra in Country Victoria for the funeral of his childhood friend Luke who along with his wife and son were murdered in an apparent murder suicide but Aaron has his own demons in the town relating to the apparent suicide of his childhood friend Ellie many years earlier.

 

The Dry I had been keen to see based off of the great trailer and it certainly did not disappoint as a movie as this was a thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery story and first off the cinematography by Stefan Duscio is quite good with its pale browns showing off how much the drought has affected this small country town which is also close to a bushfire area as well.

 

Secondly the mystery itself unfolds in a very neat way with a great use of flashbacks to show Aaron and his friends along with other people in the town when it comes to the murder cases being solved and explored in the film, the flashback scenes have this nice grainy feel to them like 35mm film from that era and it looks great on a big screen while the new scenes have that digital feel but also how much the events of the past and the events of the here and now as Luke and his family are laid to rest come back to haunt the townspeople.

 

And lastly Eric Bana is just so so good here, effortlessly charming and charismatic while also showing a real vulnerability in some scenes it just makes him not only the perfect anchor for this story but also why he hasn’t had as many good roles like this as this is the best I’ve seen him be in a movie in a very very long time and so many of the roles he’s done now feel like a total waste of his talent as he clearly can be a great, charming leading man with a laid back air to him that makes him totally relatable and boy has it been way too long.

 

And so that was the Dry which is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery tale set in drought stricken regional Victoria and one that I cannot recommend highly enough, 4 and a half out of 5.