Film Review - High Ground (2021)

High Ground is a new Australian film that stars Simon Baker as Travis a policeman stationed up in Northern Australia who is sent along with a local Indigenous boy named Gutjuk (Jacbo Junior Nayinggul) to find a group of Indigenous people who have been burning down station posts up in Arnhem Land but the divide between the Indigenous Australians and the descendants of European Settlement will not be easy to bridge.

 

High Ground is an interesting film that I didn’t love so much but more admire the more I think about it, firstly the scenery is gorgeous filmed in Kakadu National Park and in Arnhem Land itself in the Northern Territory there are many many shots of the landscape here and none of it is boring to see and there were numerous times I said to myself in the cinema “Wow that looks beautiful.”

 

Secondly the performances here are very good, Simon Baker is great here as Travis the policeman who doesn’t seek to confront the Indigenous but sit down with them and reach out with a hand of friendship so that we can share this nation together as one people comprised of two unique cultures even if those around him don’t see it that way, Jacob Nayinggul is fantastic here and has the makings of a future star with his charisma, his wide eyed looking at the world and his ability to stand toe to toe with some real legends of Australian films I hope I see more of him in the future.

 

And lastly the film grapples with the real divisions that are in both Indigenous and Descendant Australia with some on both sides who preach for peace and sharing of the land while there are those who want the fight, the conflict and to come out on top one person says in the movie “We can’t share a country” and I said to myself “Bullshit, we can and we must” and while it has only been in the last 30 years since the Mabo decision in the High Court that we have tried to bridge the gap this movie reminded me that we have to keep trying.

 

And so that was High Ground and it is a very admirable film with a lot on its mind though it will be a tough watch for some, 3 out of 5.

 

Film Review - Wild Mountain Thyme (2021)

Wild Mountain Thyme is written and directed by John Patrick Shanley who also wrote Moonstruck and Joe Vs The Volcano and stars Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt as two people from farming families in rural Ireland who grow up together as kids and find themselves sharing their farmland as adults as well as hiding romantic feelings for each other that are complicated when an American relative (Jon Hamm) comes to town.

 

Wild Mountain Thyme was a nice surprise as I wasn’t sure what to expect from it after seeing the preview for the film but I was nicely swept up in it for these reasons:

 

- Firstly rural Ireland looks gorgeous in this movie with its old houses and pubs, green grassland, rolling hills and river land the film does a great job showing off this part of the world and it will definitely make some people want to visit there once international travel opens up again.

 

- Secondly the films romance is a very nice one, two people who clearly love each other but don’t quite know how to properly express those feelings and Blunt and Dornan have nice chemistry together.

 

- And lastly this movie has a nice whimsical feel to it that really won me over, it could’ve been easy to have this be a darker romance or be like a Joe Vs the Volcano type of film but this had more of that whimsical feel to it and I appreciate that at the moment given the state of the world.

 

And so that was Wild Mountain Thyme and I’m surprised this won me over like it did, it was a nice whimsical romance that I didn’t know I needed right now, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - The Little Things (2021)

 The Little Things stars Denzel Washington as Joe Deacon a former Los Angeles Homicide Detective who now works in a small town Sheriff’s office but is asked to come to LA to investigate a series of murders that have happened there which runs him afowl of the detective (Rami Malek) assigned to investigate the case.

 

They say it is the Little Things that make up life.

 

Well, I would say that it’s the Little Things that make a movie like this work such as having a compelling mystery that’s worth giving a damn about which this movie does not have instead it has a pathetic mystery that is so tied up in knots it’s hard to follow.

 

Its also the little things like having a compelling detective hero to get behind and care about as they try to solve the mystery, recent films like Rian Johnson’s Knives Out and the Australian film the Dry not only gave us great mysteries worth following but also really good detective characters here there are two of them Washington and Malek and Malek had no business being in this movie at all.

 

And that’s not to kick him in the teeth which others have had a tendency to do since his Oscar win 2 years ago its that his character feels so superfluous to the story at hand that he should have been removed entirely and it also does not help that he just cannot compete with Denzel Washington in terms of pure star power holding your interest (I heard a few people say yesterday that they were going to see this movie because of him.)

 

And also it’s the Little Things like having a great killer at the centre of it which movies like Silence of the Lambs and David Fincher’s Seven do have but this movie does not have and there’s hardly any killing in the film at all and post Seven which it feels like this movie was written after its just not good enough anymore none of it is.

 

And this movie shouldn’t waste the Little Things like the dollarydoos in your wallet either, rent Silence of the Lambs instead or Seven, 1.5 out of 5.