Author: Laurence Walls

Review: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

Posted by | Dec 19, 2015 |

Imagine being J. J. Abrams. Your solid record of rebooting or successfully continuing franchises like Star Trek and Mission Impossible has won you the helm of another beloved pillar of global pop culture – and perhaps of the most valuable media franchise around. Suddenly you’re the bearer of so much expectation and financial responsibility that to fail is tantamount to murdering the world’s collective childhood. Redeem the franchise you must, Master Abrams. Do! Or Do Not – there is no Try. So you can’t blame Abrams and Disney for playing it a bit safe with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It’s the right choice – after the cinematic duds of the prequel trilogy that sorely tested fans’ faith. The Force Awakens is the film we wanted. It reinvigorates Lucas’s original blueprint to produce a terrific entertainment for everyone – from the once-young, whose eyes opened in wonderment back in 1977, to youngsters completely new to the Star Wars universe. How have they done it? By reminding us that Star Wars is supposed to be fun. The original trilogy is a blast because it’s a contemporary fantasy myth rather than true sci-fi. Yes, it’s bursting with cool ideas like laser swords and spaceship battles, but it grounds the fantasy elements in a believable reality, with pacing that doesn’t let the sci-fi get in the way of a good character-driven story....

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Review: American Sniper

Posted by | Jan 17, 2015 |

Something happened to the American war film in the 1980s. In a similar way to the revisionist Westerns of the early 1970s, the depiction of war and warriors in American cinema swung from cartoonishly brawny superheroes spouting jingoistic slogans, to thoughtful examinations of the American military that emphasised realism over romanticism. American Sniper is happily in the latter camp and, like The Hurt Locker, also manages to be a compassionate study of character that many audiences will feel at home with. Like much of Eastwood’s other work, American Sniper wants us to know the hero from the inside out. It’s based on the autobiography of a man most New Zealanders haven’t heard of, Chris Kyle – “the most lethal sniper in US history”. We meet him as a young boy, already a dead-eye dick with a hunting rifle. He’s branded a “sheepdog” by his father – a protector of the innocent – ever since he bloodied the nose of his brother’s bully in the school yard. We then follow Kyle through four tours of duty in Iraq, during which his growing internal conflict between his duties as a husband and father, and as an uncompromising military professional, brings him to breaking point. A film like this lives or dies on the strength of its lead. The film’s six Oscar nominations (in addition to Best Picture) include Best Actor for Bradley...

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Review: ‘Chef’

Posted by | May 14, 2014 |

Director and star Jon Favreau may just have invented a new genre, the culinary road movie. This lively stroll through America’s gastronomic landscape is hardly original but has charm and laughs to spare. Also on the menu is a story about father-son bonding over the things you love and the film is sweetened with a little will-they-won’t-they romantic flavour. It’s a familiar but tasty confection. Carl Casper (Favreau) is the warm hearted, broad-bodied head chef at an uppercrust Los Angeles eatery. He has the command of his kitchen, the respect of his team, and the adoration of diners. But a grim review from LA’s most virulent critic (a stone-faced Oliver Platt) and an ill-advised Twitter outburst in response send Carl onto Skid Row. So it’s back to his roots in Miami – behind the grill of a food truck – to rediscover his passion for his vocation and reconnect with his ex-wife and 10 year-old son. Favreau seems to have returned to his roots here too. As with Swingers he’s crafted an amiable comedy about a basically decent guy down on his luck. He makes a likeable lead and a convincing chef, and is ably supported by the big name supporting cast, who all understand what’s going on and obviously are enjoying themselves. Wit and charm drive the action rather than plot – this is about the journey, not the...

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Review: ‘Noah’

Posted by | Apr 14, 2014 |

“Our family has been chosen for a great task: to save the Innocent” “The Innocent?” “The Animals”. Compared to the squeaky-clean Books of Matthew to John, the Bible’s Old Testament is a treasure trove of avarice, debauchery and blood-letting that film-makers have gleefully pillaged for more than a century. Twentieth century cinema is littered with blood-boiling bodice-rippers like Samson and Delilah, King of Kings, David and Bathsheba, numerous retellings of The Ten Commandments…so much so in fact, that (by one account) production code-era Hollywood of the 1950s and 60s saw biblical epics as the best way to get sex and violence onto the screen. But since the 1920s poor Noah has hardly had a look in. Leading the animals 2×2 into a boat wasn’t sexy enough. Well, Noah’s time has come again at last. In a 21st century where meat-eating man’s folly apparently threatens to end all life on this planet (the Wrath of God, no doubt), suddenly a bearded old vegetarian with a Mission from God can be a hero. This is an update of a story as old as time itself. We can count on the key plot points thanks to Sunday School or a thousand bedtime stories: he builds it and they come – all that flies, walks, crawls and slithers. But there’s a lot more to this. What we don’t expect is director Aronovsky’s way...

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Review: ‘Pompeii’

Posted by | Mar 25, 2014 |

Since Spartacus wrote the blueprint for momentous historical event-based drama/romance, the idea has been recycled to a box office bonanza many times. Pompeii almost carves out its own “Epic-lite” niche within this genre. It plays like a TV movie that shamelessly steals corny moments from bigger productions and stuffs as many of them into its short running-time as possible. It’s Titanic for the Twilight generation. In keeping with this it stars a mixture of keen young TV actors well known to the target audience (Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington, for example), and established pros who might be a bit down on their luck. Cobbling this masterpiece together is Mr Resident Evil, director Paul W. S Anderson. Like the films it apes we know this all ends tragically – but of course the setting’s merely the excuse for the struggles of our hero and heroine against impossible odds so that love may triumph. It’s 62AD and the child Milo witnesses the bloody massacre of his Celtic village and family at the hands of Senator Corvus and his Roman legions as they pillage Britannia. Forward 17 years and the enslaved Milo’s talent for meting out bloody entertainment to the Londinium masses is noticed by the local slave trader, who whisks his protégé off to the bigger gladiatorial stage of Pompeii. There, as Mount Vesuvius steams and rumbles ominously, fate (and a...

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