There’s a solid Australian film
opening this week, Son of a Gun
starring Ewan McGregor, filmed here in Perth. I hope the Aussies reading this
will consider giving it a viewing. It’s very good, and we need to support our
country’s film industry. My son has visions of working in this industry in the
future, so I’m hoping in a decade there will be a vibrant one for him and the
other budding filmmakers to enter.
The other two films are average
thrillers, but if you haven’t seen Gone
Girl or The Equalizer, then see
those first. They are much better films. These two would be just as enjoyable
as Friday night streams or DVDs. Don’t pirate them, okay! Pirating is naughty.
THIS WEEK'S FILM RELEASES
(My movie Pick of the week)
Son of a Gun ✪✪✪✪
Opens in Australia: 16th
October 2014
USA:
No release as yet UK:
16th January 2015
OUR THOUGHTS
We’ve had a few films recently
released that were filmed in our little old town of Perth, but Son of A Gun is the first one that
really nails it. Starring Ewan McGregor and Brenton Thwaites (The Giver) it
comes with a smart script and well-orchestrated action scenes. McGregor
displays his versatility playing a hardened criminal, and Thwaites the newcomer
matches him as the innocent kid drawn into his web in order to survive his stay
in prison.
I liked the twists and turns; the
script by Julian Avery, also directing in his feature film debut, proves that
you can follow tried and true tropes, and yet still deliver good entertainment.
My hope is that Australians will support this film. It’s a 100 percent better
than a lot of the big studio produced rubbish thrown at us these days with big name actors and big
budgets, which just don’t deliver on story or character. Really worth seeing on
the big screen.
STUDIO BLURB
Locked up, 19-year-old JR (Brenton
Thwaites) finds himself under the protection of Australia's public enemy No.1,
Brendan Lynch (Ewan McGregor)... but protection comes at a price. Lynche's crew
have plans for their young protégé and very soon the debt is called in.
Before I Go To
Sleep ✪✪✪
Opens in Australia: 16th
October 2014
USA:
31st October 2014 UK: 5th
September 2014
Nicole Kidman has not enjoyed a good run of films at the box office. Most have
tanked, and after the woeful Grace of
Monaco, you start wondering if it isn’t her. Sometimes her acting feels
distant from the character, as if you can see the mechanics of the process in
her eyes. However in Before I Go To Sleep
that distance works very well indeed.
It’s a Hitchockian Memento
type thriller, Kidman playing Christine Lucas who, due to head injuries from a
violent assault, wakes up every morning having forgotten everything from the
day before. Her husband (Colin Firth) is supportive and loving, albeit it is
clearly emotionally taxing and difficult to have to recount their years of
marriage to her each morning.
Her doctor (Mark Strong) calls her every morning after her
husband leaves for work to remind her that she is keeping a video diary on a
camera hidden in the back of the cupboard. It is via the video that the mystery
begins, with Christine telling future herself not to trust her husband. Each day we learn a little more about her, as
she searches for what really happened and who she can trust.
The first half of the film is intriguing and strong, however
toward the end it devolves into less than it could have been had a little more
thought gone into the conclusion and setting up of the red herrings. However if
you like your thrillers a guessing game, you will enjoy this. It’s no Gone Girl, but the cast do a great job,
and director Rowan Joffe (Brighton Rock,
28 Weeks Later) is certainly the master of creating a dark and
claustrophobic mood on screen.
STUDIO
BLURB
A taut thriller based on the worldwide best-selling novel by
S.J. Watson, BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP is the story of a woman (Nicole Kidman) who
wakes up every day with no memory as the result of a traumatic accident in her
past. One day, terrifying new truths begin to emerge that make her question
everything she thinks she knows about her life - as well as everyone in it,
including her doctor (Mark Strong) and even her husband (Colin Firth). (c)
Clarius
A WALK AMONG THE
TOMBSTONES ✪✪✪
Opens in Australia: 16th
October 2014
USA:
19th September 2014 UK: 19th
September 2014
This film is based on Lawrence Block's bestselling series of
mystery novels. It certainly would be a good book, but it's not so good as a film. It’s a tad tired and clichéd and is only
elevated above a DVD watch by Liam Neeson. Although, there is a joke in our
household of film aficionados, about the typecasting of Liam Neeson. When we came home from the movie, our
youngest, snarliest film reviewer asks: Did
Liam Neeson play an ex-cop? Yes! Is he a recovering alcoholic? Yes! Is
he divorced? Yes! Does he walk around
looking as if the weight of the world is on his shoulders? Yes! Does he kill a lot of people violently,
barely raising a sweat? Yes!
So if my twelve-year-old understands it's a clichéd plot, I
am struggling lately to comprehend how these scriptwriters can’t see it. Perhaps they
simply don’t see enough films to realize that it’s been done before, and done many times.
If you're looking for something new, this isn’t it. If you love
Liam Neeson in Taken, then you will
enjoy. However, if you haven’t seen The
Equalizer or Gone Girl, see those
two first. They are superior films by a long shot and fall into the same genre
as this. I will say that it has a
fabulous opening sequence that hints of so much more than the film delivers.
STUDIO BLURB
Based on Lawrence Block's bestselling
series of mystery novels, A Walk among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as Matt
Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator
operating just outside the law. When Scudder reluctantly agrees to help a
heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who kidnapped and then
brutally murdered his wife, the PI learns that this is not the first time these
men have committed this sort of twisted crime...nor will it be the last.
Blurring the lines between right and wrong, Scudder races to track the deviants
through the backstreets of New York City before they kill again. (C) Universal
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