In memoriam: DVD Review: United 93

My introduction to United Airlines Flight 93 was in the early hours of September 12, 2001. Not owning a television, I was following the hypnotic spectacle on the internet. ('September 11' would later be acknowledged as being the first major international event to have been communicated to the world in real time via the 'net.) I was plugged in to a large number of websites - one of which belonged to United Airlines. At some point during the fiasco, there was a stark, simple message on the company's homepage: "United Airlines regret to announce that we appear to have lost another aircraft." (United Airlines Flight 175, the second plane hijacked, had already been flown into the World Trade Center's South Tower.)

My introduction to the Paul Greengrass film - United 93 - was as a result of the, then, Sydney Film Festival Artistic Director Lynden Barber's decision to include it in his program for the 2006 festival. I was the Events Manager for Barber's final festival and I had taken the opportunity to sneak in to the State Theatre to watch this film. About 15 minutes into it, my mobile phone, silently, announced that I was needed somewhere. We had a huge number of Festival Sponsor post-screening functions immediately following the film - and there was corporate sponsorship banner positioning to be attended to.

The post-United 93 screening functions were, as you might imagine, dire affairs. Ghostly white and subdued, corporate Sydney wandered dazed and undone into their VIP zones - stunned by what they had witnessed. The State Theatre had just had a new 'rock concert' sound rig installed ... and United 93's momentous, layered soundtrack (Martin Cantwell's Sound Editing and John Powell's Original Score) gave it a paint-and-wall-paper stripping run for its money.

****

One of Greengrass's masterstrokes is the casting. John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) once said that "casting is 65 percent of directing", and in the case of United 93 the casting is a significant aspect of the work's cinematic torque. The flight crew (pilots and cabin attendants) are all played by real crew - some of whom work for United Airlines. On the ground, the Civilian and US Military Air Traffic Controllers are played by real air traffic controllers – and in some cases, the people who were actually working on the morning of September 11. The passengers are played by relative unknowns, and it is this choice that ensures the film demands an immediate and instinctive respect. There is no "Acting" going on. Yes, there is knowledge and technique … there is commitment and passion … but ultimately, it is the anonymity of these actors that powers their presence in this work in precious and commanding ways. Many Directors and Casting Directors choose this casting path to walk – but very few have succeeded in matching the power of the unreservedly adventurous and uncluttered energy with the material that Greengrass manages to inspire in this work and from his brilliant cast.

The editing by Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson and Christopher Rouse is astonishing and entirely worthy of their Oscar™ nomination (they lost to Thelma Schoonmaker's work on Martin Scorsese's The Departed). Greengrass, too, was nominated for the Oscar™ for Best Achievement in Directing – also missing out to Mr Scorsese.

I have always been greedy for detail - and Barry Ackroyd's Cinematography re-defines the possibilities of the hand-held camera and strikes the perfect aviation-clinical look throughout the 'inflight' interiors. His colours and tones are bone-bearingly real, and his and Greengrass's camera becomes almost lascivious as it prowls the darkest and most unlikely corners of the unravelling horror. From the chaos on the ground to the habitual inflight prattle, Greengrass is everywhere. He pins each and every minute detail of his formidable narrative to your every breath ... choking you with his drive, intention and pace. His virtuoso camera angles are a lesson in themselves and the camera's battle for stability and equilibrium in the post-hijack cabin of United Airlines Flight 93 is unrelenting. That there is even the slightest semblance of hope for a different denoument is the mark of a truly great storyteller ... and the combined skills of his ensemble and crew.

From its simple, eerily familiar and almost routine beginning to the blistering mid-point where the tension can no longer be contained, United 93 is a masterful cinematic ante-mortem examination … and even though forensic investigators have contradicted the popular myth that the passengers managed to make it into the cockpit, the final few minutes of United 93 will connect so brutally with your heart that it may be almost impossible for you to stand it.

It was only through the wide-eyed wonder at what real and raw courage and determination looks like, that I could.

****

The Flight 93 National Memorial


One of the many distinguishing characteristics of the Honour Flight 93 National Memorial is the seasonal variation of the native trees throughout its landscape. The design highlights this feature and will supplement it with a major reforestation effort throughout the site, planting over 140,000 trees at the former coal mine. (Photo by Chuck Wagner)

DVD Review: The Last Song

The Last Song. 103 minutes. Rated PG. Directed by Julie Anne Robinson. Screenplay by Nicholas Sparks and Jeff Van Wie. Adapted from the novel by Nicholas Sparks.

When the behemoth Avatar was knocked off the top spot on US box office list, it was by a great little film called Dear John – the story of a young soldier’s (John, played by Channing Tatum) love affair with ‘Savannah’ (played by Amanda Seyfried). Dear John also heralded an international breakthrough for writer Nicholas Sparks (whose 2004 novel The Notebook had also been adapted into a successful film starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams).

The secret to Sparks’s success lies in the simple fact that he doesn’t take his predominantly younger audiences for fools – and while his books follow a faintly predictable pathway through romantic drama and all the attendant complications, there is always more than enough character development to ensure we care enough to want to know what is going to happen in the end.

Ronnie Miller (Miley Cyrus) and her brother Jonah (Bobby Coleman) go to spend the holidays with their father Steve (Greg Kinnear) at his house by the sea. The fractured family dynamics play out perfectly as Ronnie punishes her father for having separated from their mother Kim (Kelly Preston) by sulking around the place and taking him to task for his very obvious failings as a husband and father. When she meets a handsome local lad Will (Liam Hemsworth), Ronnie gradually begins to understand that love – and life – can be a great deal more complicated than she ever imagined.

Skilfully directed by Julie Anne Robinson (whose previous work consists mostly of television including episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Weeds) and beautifully edited by Nancy Richardson (Twilight, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) who is obviously right at home in this territory, The Last Song is a charming, engaging and ultimately deeply moving story about the ties that bind us together in our search for someone who will love and understand us.

Cyrus (better known to practically everyone as the indefatigable Hannah Montana) and Melbourne-born Hemsworth (Neighbours, McLeod's Daughters, Home and Away) are excellent as the young leads, and the success of the film owes much to their onscreen charisma and complete lack of pretension. Bobby Coleman is superb as the little brother – and his pivotal scenes late in the film as the drama reaches its conclusion are beautifully handled and extremely moving.

Kinnear (As Good as It Gets, Little Miss Sunshine) delivers an under-stated performance as the ‘can’t-do-anything-right’ Dad, but his character’s journey through the film is ultimately revealed to have been beautifully controlled and painfully honest. The shot of him and Ms Cyrus on the verandah of his house as Jonah is taken home by his mother toward the end of the story is unforgettable.

The Last Song is a smart, surprising, rewarding, deeply-affecting film that will reward lovers of contemporary romantic drama – and it is well worth every minute of the time you spend in its engrossing company.

Pictured: Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth in The Last Song.

The review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.

DVD Review: Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness. 116 minutes. Rated MA15+. Directed by Martin Campbell. Screenplay by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell. Based on the television series by Troy Kennedy-Martin.

Ranked 15 on the British Film Institute’s TV 100 (a list of greatest British television programmes of any genre ever screened), the six episodes of Edge of Darkness (1985) followed policeman Ronald Craven as he confronted a toxic mix of corporate and government conspiracy within Britain’s nuclear industry in an effort to uncover the truth behind the ruthless slaying of his activist daughter Emma.

Essentially a considerably abridged cinematic remake of the series, Edge of Darkness has something going for it as an edgy, politically-motivated crime drama – even if it doesn’t really classify as a thriller, because it isn’t ‘thrilling’ at all. While it starts well and features a couple of moments of genuine suspense and one outstanding action sequence, Monahan and Bovell’s clunky, disjointed screenplay constantly gets bogged down in all sorts of mumbled, conspiratorial hyperbole before abandoning us in disappointingly familiar ‘we’ve seen this all done so much more effectively a hundred times before before” territory.

Disappointingly, Campbell (who directed the television series and the fantastic James Bond instalment Casino Royale) has obviously struggled with the transition to the rigours and possibilities of the big screen. In spite of the efforts of his reunited Casino Royale team (Phil Meheux and Stuart Baird return as cinematographer and editor respectively), we are constantly reminded of the story’s televisual origins in the way that the film consists of one neatly packaged, tidy little scene after another – all shot in comfortable, medium close-up.

Most peculiarly, there is nothing of 2006’s Casino Royale’s fantastic cinematic adventurousness (just think about that climactic sequence in Venice as one example). And while it might seem unfair to compare the two films, the way in which Edge of Darkness just plods along, by comparison, becomes increasingly difficult to comprehend given the talent involved. Howard Shore’s (The Lord of The Rings, The Twilight Saga) score, too, is similarly serviceable.

Mel Gibson (as Boston detective Thomas Craven, pictured) certainly has his moments as the grim, grieving father and NIDA graduate Bojana Novakovic is great as his doomed daughter. Ray Winstone tries his hardest to make the cryptic and obscure character of Jedburgh work, but Danny Huston (King Richard in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood) struggles to make his mark as the dubious and evil nuclear weapon corporation chief Jack Bennett. Shawn Roberts (as Emma’s boyfriend David, also pictured) and Caterina Scorsone (as her friend Melissa) are both outstanding as terrified pawns in the game of life or death.

Ultimately, though, it’s really hard to care – and given we’re discussing a DVD, maybe just watch Casino Royale instead. Now that’s a film!

DVD Review: Daybreakers

Daybreakers. 94 minutes. MA15+. Directed and written by Michael and Peter Spierig.

With Undead (2003), their marvellous, low-budget sci-fi/horror film about aliens who arrive to save the residents of a small-town from a zombie plague, the Queensland-based Spierig Brothers – twins Michael and Peter – launched their filmmaking careers. Here was a fantastically imaginative addition to the celebrated genre that literally sparkled with invention, broad brushstrokes of tongue-in-cheek humour and great affection for zombified chaos. What, genre aficionados eagerly anticipated, would they do next?

It’s 2019, and a mysterious plague has turned most of the world’s population into vampires. The remaining humans are hunted and farmed for their blood, but as the human race nears extinction, vampire scientists – lead by haematologist Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) – become involved in a race against time to develop a blood substitute before the vampires, themselves, become extinct.

While there is certainly a huge amount to enjoy about this occasionally clever, big-budget blood-fest, unhappily, all the sheer, unbridled creativity that defined Undead appears to have been shoe-horned into a slick, genre treatment that just ends up feeling disappointingly derivative and unoriginal. It’s not helped, either, by the miscast Hawke (Gattaca) or the unengaged performance from a sedate Willem Dafoe, who both appear uncomfortably ill-at-ease with the material.

On the other hand, Michael Dorman is great as Edward’s tortured, human-hunting brother Frankie, while Sam Neill has a field day scowling and prowling around all over the place as Charles Bromley, the head of his human-farming corporation. Isabel Lucas feasts on her cameo as his activist daughter Alison – and there’s a strong sense that this much more interesting relationship was somewhat strangely abandoned in the scriptwriting process.

Ben Nott’s steely grey cinematography, George Liddle’s (Evil Angels) production design and Bill Booth’s (The Proposition) art direction stylishly account for the handsome, sleek, futuristic science-fiction environments. Matt Villa’s editing manages to ensure that the script’s obvious fractures and structural flaws don’t seriously derail the whole affair – even if you do get the feeling that, particularly in the ultra-gory, blood-soaked sequences, it’s all getting a little too indulgent and out of control.

Ultimately, however, it is Steven Boyle’s superb, Nosferatu-inspired ‘Subsiders’ design (with Bryan Probets, Sahaj Dumpleton and Kellie Vella turning in memorable ‘Subsider’ cameos) that steals the show – and it is this sub-plot concerning near-death vampires turning into marauding, cannibalistic savages (together with some particularly gruesome scenes of their extermination) that really lifts Daybreakers into genre-defining territory.

It’s just a real shame that the comparatively boring human characters (including Claudia Karvan as a stereotypical heroine) keep getting in the way of all the action and real excitement – to the point where you end up wishing they’d just drive off into the distance a lot sooner than they do, never to be seen again.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray. 107 minutes. MA15+. Directed by Oliver Parker. Written by Toby Finlay. Based on the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde’s grand, gothic fairytale about vanity, hedonism, narcissism and the combined destructive powers of youth and beauty – has long been considered an important and influential literary achievement. It was Wilde’s only published novel and, like his most famous play – The Importance of Being Earnest – is considered an indisputable classic. It was also memorably (and some might say rather perfectly) adapted for the screen in 1945 by writer/director Albert Lewin, and our generation of filmmakers appeared to have had the good sense to leave it alone.

Until now.

Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) has everything going for him: he’s young, attractive, rich and poised to take on the world. When an artist, Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin), paints a portrait of the young man that will take pride of place on a wall in his recently inherited mansion, Dorian becomes increasingly obsessed with his own beauty and the luxury of riches and choices such good fortune bestows upon him. Under the tutelage of a sinister Lord Henry Wooton (Colin Firth), Dorian embarks on a journey of earthly (and unearthly) delights that will risk delivering him to the very depths of despair.

With all the subtly of a landmine, Parker’s contemporary retelling of Wilde’s fantastically complex, inventive and – most importantly, timeless – morality tale entirely misses the point: which is what you see is often not what you get. Here, instead, is an adaptation so startlingly lacking in imagination and intellect that you ‘see’ and ‘get’ everything.

Roger Pratt’s (Troy, Harry Potter, Twelve Monkeys) cinematography, John Beard’s (The Last Temptation of Christ) production design and Ruth Myers’ (The Golden Compass) costuming are all magnificent – but while the way a film looks can often account for the way it feels, all the mysterious and menacing subtly, sophistication and suggestion that powers the novel (and its previous cinematic incarnation) have been recklessly abandoned by both Parker and first time screenwriter Finlay.

Barnes (pictured, who played the title role in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) tackles the difficult lead role with great charm and good grace – even if his performance suffers from the same desperately frantic quality in which the entire film eventually drowns. The supporting cast tackle all the reductively self-indulgent nonsense with an ever-increasing air of desperation, while an almost impossibly understated Firth spends much of the film reciting the dialogue as though he’s trying to remember what he needs to get from the supermarket.

As Lord Wooton says to our young antihero: The only two things worth having are youth and beauty. Add another: Respect.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: Zombieland

Zombieland. 88 mins. Rated MA15+. Directed by Ruben Fleischer. Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Since 1932’s White Zombie, the ‘living dead’, in their many ghoulish incarnations, have been staples of the horror genre – largely thanks to George A. Romero’s … of the Dead films: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985) and Land of the Dead (2005) starring Australia’s Simon Baker (The Mentalist).

Considered the ‘Zombie Master’, Romero’s films have deservedly won themselves a cult following and are celebrated worldwide, not only for the way in which they push every single one of the celebrated horror genre’s buttons, but for how they can be enjoyed as satirical commentary on the worst of human excesses: consumerism, greed and blind-sided military aggression respectively.

Comedy, too, has been increasingly integrated into flesh-munching, zombie scenarios – no more successfully than Shaun of The Dead (2004), in which Simon Peggs’s charming, nerdy shop assistant ‘Shaun’ becomes a hero by taking on the local zombie community in order to win back his ex-girlfriend.

Zombieland is the story of Columbus (Jess Eisenberg, pictured) – a phobic young man who, with the help of a set of rules for withstanding the zombie apocalypse, has managed to survive. When he sets off to try and find other survivors, he meets Tallahassee (Oscar-nominated Woody Harrelson) who is in search of Twinkies – a particular brand of American cream-filled cake. When their vehicle and weapons stash is high-jacked by the resourceful Wichita (Emma Stone) and her young sister Little Rock (Oscar-nominated Abigail Breslin) who are on their way to a theme park, the men must chose between going their own way or following the girls.

While it certainly has its moments (the opening budget-draining few minutes are extremely promising), Zombieland rapidly disintegrates into a cheap, tedious, half-baked road movie with self-conscious pretensions to comedy, social commentary and relevance. Bill Murray (Ghostbusters) has a moderately (and momentarily) appealing cameo as himself, but Harrelson (The Messenger, The People vs Larry Flynt), Eisenberg (The Squid and The Whale), Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) and Stone, just flounder haplessly all over the place in one unengaging, undirected and unfulfilling scene after another – all tacked together with the strength of a daisy chain by editor Alan Baumgarten (Meet the Fockers).

When, minutes from the end of the muddled and predictable theme park sequence, you realise that the same particularly insipid and uninspiring line of dialogue (“nut up or shut up” … whatever that’s supposed to mean) has been repeated more times than you care to remember, you know that the scriptwriters have really hit a brick wall. Hard.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: The Road

The Road. 112 mins. Rated MA15+. Directed by John Hillcoat. Written by Joe Penhall. Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy.

Our current generation of filmmakers’ obsession with how our world will end has resulted in a ever-increasing library of bleak, indulgent, gloomy and depressing films that try, at times impossibly hard, to reach that part of our collective psyches that may want to consider the demise of our planet and all that we know exists on it.

And while possibly no-one is expecting it to be a laugh-a-minute, there is yet to be a film that permeates the significant divide between ‘their’ wanting to tell us the story and ‘us’ wanting to embrace the cinematic result. But if ever a film has managed to challenge this ‘will you just stop telling me all the really bad news’ stand-off, then it is this one: a rare, poetic, soulful tale of how the spiritual essence of our survival is to care deeply about what happens after we are gone – not only about ourselves, but each other.

Our planet has been devastated by an apocalyptic event that has rendered it barren, ash-strewn and almost uninhabitable. A man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) are heading south to the coast. Apart from the shopping trolley that holds all that is left of their worldly possessions, there is only a gun with two bullets in it – one for each of them to use to end their life if they find themselves at risk of being captured by the marauding cannibalistic savages that roam the desolate countryside between them and the sea. When the man is forced to use one of the bullets to defend himself and his son from being ‘collected’, it becomes imperative that they survive to reach the coast, where some semblance of hope awaits them.

Based on McCarthy’s extraordinary Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Road is an utterly compelling journey featuring an astonishing performance from Viggo Mortensen, arguably one of the most under-rated actors of his generation – and it is Mortensen’s perfectly realised performance of McCarthy’s ‘Man’ that is reason alone to see this film.

Queensland-born Hillcoat’s (The Proposition, Ghosts of the Civil Dead) loving, unsparingly intimate, fearless and uncompromising direction is faultless. Gershon Ginsburg’s Art Direction and Chris Kennedy’s (The Proposition) production design perfectly render a world of iconic architectural and environmental ruin and desolation, and without exception, every one of The Road’s gruelling and inhospitable moments is captured in overwhelmingly artful and considered beauty in detail by Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (The Others, New Moon).

Smit-McPhee is a revelation as the ‘Boy’ – and the scenes he shares with Mortensen in an apparently abandoned underground larder (where the film’s welcome lightness of touch and nostalgia for a world destroyed are most welcome) are extraordinarily touching. An unrecognisable Robert Duvall shines in his cameo as ‘Eli’ and Charlize Theron is perfect in her brutal and confronting cameo as the Man’s fatalistically defeated wife.

The only aspects preventing The Road from being considered a true masterpiece are its capitulation into muddied and bloodied shlock horror territory with an unfortunate and gratuitous abandoned fairground sequence, and its incredibly unsatisfying ending – which to all intents and purposes, appears to be tacked on to the devastating penultimate imagery that underlines the film’s almost entire purpose of being. No, it’s certainly not going to be entertaining, but great work in the post-apocalyptic genre – of which this film is a stunning example – goes some of the way toward defining for us that essence of our survival. And how important it is that we care.

DVD Review: StarStruck

StarStruck. 90 mins. Rated G. Directed by Michael Grossman. Written by Barbara Johns and Annie DeYoung.

There’s a worthwhile message hiding in this ‘musical’ fairytale. It’s about how, in our celebrity-obsessed world, meaningful connections between people can happen in the most unlikely of circumstances. The attendant power of celebrity was witnessed recently when YouTube’s teen idol Justin Bieber arrived in Australia. Everywhere he went, he created pandemonium – proving that if adoring teenage girls want to get close to their young heartthrobs, nothing but significant police intervention can stop them.

Christopher Wilde (Sterling Knight) is a young pop star on the brink of mega movie stardom. He has the perfect ‘A-list’ girlfriend and thousands of devoted fans clamouring to know the details of his every move. When he is photographed during an altercation with the notorious Hollywood paparazzi outside a Los Angeles nightclub, his agent warns him that unless he can maintain a squeaky-clean image, his movie career will go nowhere.

In the meantime, one of his most obsessed fans Sara (Maggie Castle) and her younger sister Jessica (Danielle Campbell) travel to LA with their parents to visit relatives. Sara is determined to use the opportunity to meet her idol, whereas the straight-shooting Jessica cannot understand what all the fuss is about. When Jessica and Christopher accidentally meet outside a nightclub, the young heartthrob is forced to confront the concept that genuine feelings are quite different from the manufactured ones forced on him by the circumstances of his career.

You would think it would have been relatively uncomplicated for Disney to produce an engaging and possibly even thoughtful film starring two young leads whose characters have very different views about what’s important in the world. After all, it’s one of the things they do best. Instead, with the help of a collection of banal and over-produced songs, StarStruck struggles to maintain our interest before it collapses under the weight of a script so impossibly trite it becomes difficult to believe you’re actually listening to it. And while Knight and Campbell have a certain surface appeal, they both lack the necessary depth of acting ability that a film focussed almost exclusively on their complicated young love affair demands.

The result, with the exception of a cute mud-bath sequence in the middle of nowhere, is a very ordinary little made-for-television movie that fails to deliver on its promise. The film’s target audience – young girls with enquiring minds, wild imaginations, dreams and aspirations about what it is possible to achieve with their lives – deserve a great deal more than this DVD equivalent of junk food.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Geraldton Guardian.

DVD Review: Everybody's Fine

Everybody's Fine. 96 minutes. Rated M. Written and directed by Kirk Jones.

Films about the paradoxical relationships fathers share with their children are rare beasts in Hollywood's 'big picture' output. The grand-parents of them all – films like The Godfather, Father of The Bride and Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? – successfully reached into the dim, dark vault of family drama. And while the circumstances that give meaning and purpose to these values differ dramatically, audiences can't help but bring their own unique and very personal experiences of family to films that dare to take the subject on.

With Everybody's Fine, Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine, Nanny McPhee), with the help of an arresting performance from a perfect Robert De Niro, has risen to meet this challenge and has delivered a heartfelt, unforgettable film of genuine emotional authority.

Frank Goode (De Niro) has been left alone after the death of his beloved wife, who (as wives and mums so often do), has nurtured and attended to every finite detail of family life. When, at the last minute, each of his four adult children suddenly become unavailable to attend a reunion at the family home (the first since their mother's passing), a wary and suspicious Frank sets out on a journey across America to surprise each of them with a visit instead. What he learns in the process will challenge his life's experience of being a hard-working father and husband.

Based on the 1990 Italian film Stanno Tutti Bene (Everybody's Fine) starring the incomparable Marcello Mastroianni, Kirk Jones's English-language adaptation bucks the trend of Hollywood feeding like piranha on the jewels of European cinema with a distinct lack of respect. The result is a perfectly-structured story that gently unravels, before all the various strands unite in a marvellously inventive sequence – played to the hilt by De Niro – around an outdoor dining table.

Beautifully and insightfully directed, Everybody's Fine is helped considerably by the work of Cinematographer Henry Braham (who was cinematographer on Jones's earlier films as well as the ravishing The Golden Compass). Braham ensures that the photographic essence of the film perfectly matches the incandescent, searching qualities of De Niro's central performance. Drew Broughton's (House of Sand and Fog) art direction and Andrew Jackness's production design combined to create the film's stunning visual aura which enhances the story, and the compelling performances, at every turn.

And if there is such a thing as the perfect cast, then this film has it in spades. The performances from the first-class ensemble of Hollywood stars (Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Austin Lysy play the siblings) are flawless. But ultimately, it is De Niro that anchors this film in the purest of reality – resulting in a film of intricately layered, intimate detail. Just be ready to tell your dad how much you love him … and have the box of tissues handy.

Everybody's Fine will be available on DVD from 2 June, 2010.

DVD Review: Mao's Last Dancer

Mao's Last Dancer. 117 minutes. Rated PG. Directed by Bruce Beresford. Written by Jan Sardi. Based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin.

Mao Zedong, the leader of the People's Republic of China from its inception in 1949 until his death in 1976, is, today, remembered as one of the most influential and controversial leaders in modern history. While his brand of Communist theory and policies is credited with having laid the foundation stones of contemporary China's position of power and influence in our world, the extremes with which his policies were enacted throughout the new republic have fuelled the controversy associated with the legacy of his rule to this very day.

Li Cunxin is a young peasant boy growing up in a small village in rural China who, at the height of Mao's Cultural Revolution, is inadvertently chosen by visiting delegates to study ballet in the capital, Beijing. The ruling Communist Party's desire for cultural supremacy soon sees him sent to the United States of America as a guest artist with the Houston Ballet, but as his success elevates him to international stardom, the ensuing culture clash finds Li having to choose between his newfound desire for personal and artistic freedom and the profound bond with his beloved family in China.

Sardi's (Shine, The Notebook) meticulous screenplay is absolutely up to the challenge of representing not only the complex political landscape of Communist China in the early 1970s, but also the heady, disciplined world behind the scenes of a major, internationally-renowned ballet company. Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Black Robe, Paradise Road) is one of Australia's most highly-respected directors – and his work here is finely nuanced, sensitive and brimming with cinematic confidence when dealing with the epic qualities a biopic with this kind of global resonance and significance demands.

Overall, however, the ensemble of performances are its weakest link, with only the superb Joan Chen (as Li's mother 'Niang'), Penne Hackforth-Jones (as the Houston Ballet's fearsome 'Cynthia Dodds') and Amanda Schull (as Li's first love-interest 'Elizabeth') really managing to bring the necessary flair to their performances that – whenever they are onscreen – lifts the film from a fairly standard level of engagement to an appreciably higher one. While Birmingham Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Chi Cao is certainly up to the choreographic demands of his role as 'Li', his acting is no match for his dancing, and regrettably, particularly in his many scenes with Bruce Greenwood's Houston Ballet hero 'Ben Stevenson', it all ends up looking and feeling a little too earnest and, ultimately, disingenuous.

At a critical point in the story, Li says "I don't want to walk – I want to fly." The chief disappointment with this film is that it never actually manages to match this simple, yet fearless grand ambition.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: Moon

Moon. 93 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Duncan Jones. Written by Nathan Parker from an original story by Duncan Jones.

All too rarely, a movie comes along that, on the surface at least, is apparently incredibly simple and understated. But as it slowly begins to unfold, it reveals itself to be fantastically original and complex, and before long, you somewhat unexpectedly find yourself under its spell. Moon is one such film. Directed by Duncan Jones (the son of David Bowie), Moon is a mesmerising little masterpiece that slowly hypnotises you with its nihilistic vision of not only the future of lunar exploration and the possible exploitation of the planet's resources, but also the very essence of our human identity, fallibility, beliefs and values.

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is employed by Lunar Industries to oversee giant harvesters that extract helium-3 from the moon's surface. With only his computer assistant GERTY (superbly voiced by Kevin Spacey) for company, Sam must ensure that once the machines have harvested a certain quota of the precious element, it is jettisoned safely back to earth in canisters where it will aid the development of our planet's clean energy programs. But with only two weeks to go before his three-year contract expires and his replacement arrives, a near-fatal accident involving one of the harvesters threatens his return to earth.

As the lonely engineer who appears to be slowly losing his mind, Rockwell is magnificent. It is a tour de force performance of such immense skill and craftsmanship, that you practically forget that this is, essentially, a film with only one actor in it. He is helped enormously by Parker's marvellously engrossing, lean, mean and inventive script from Jones's fact-based story (the scientific community are actually researching ways to harvest Helium-3 from lunar soil and the film was screened privately for NASA's scientists).

While it lovingly references previous films of the sci-fi genre (particularly Soylent Green, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running and Blade Runner), Moon's modest special effects are less concerned with flashy explosions and random space-based exotica, and consist of exemplary model and miniature work (supervised by Alien and Casino Royale Model Master Bill Pearson). And like director Ridley Scott, Jones has the ability to employ the services of his gifted special effects crew to serve his vision and drive the story forward – not distract from it.

But it is Rockwell (who was the voice of guinea pig Darwin in G-Force and who is also starring in Iron Man 2) whose virtuoso performance brings this extraordinary film to life. For those film-lovers who are more than a little fatigued by big expensive flashy epics and want a film that will have you thinking and contemplating the very nature of our existence for days afterwards – Moon is the film for you.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: Whip It

Whip It. 117 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Drew Barrymore. Written by Shauna Cross, based on her novel Derby Girl.

As long ago as the late 1880s, newspapers were reporting about the emergence of a new phenonemon: racers on rollerskates. Today, the contact sport that would become known (and trademarked) as 'roller derby' is enjoying a global renaissance that is captivating a new generation of participants and their devoted fans. It is an inspired world of indie-chicks with fantastic 'stage names', awesome costumes, strict rules and plenty of attitude. That it remains an almost exclusively female domain lends the sport a serious amount of enigmatic fascination.

Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is suffering from a severe case of the small-town blues. When she is not working part-time at a local fast-food outlet 'The Oink Joint', she is being mercilessly dragged around to a never-ending calendar of beauty pageants by her mother 'Brooke' (the superb Marcia Gay Harden), who is determined that her plain-Jane daughter will fulfill her all-American obligation and become a Beauty Queen. But when mother and daughter are out shopping for new shoes and a group of girls rollerskate into the shop to deliver a handful of leaflets for an upcoming roller derby competition, Bliss's life is changed forever.

Whip It marks the directorial debut of actress and producer Drew Barrymore who, since she was catapulted to international fame as 'Gertie' in Steven Spielberg's ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), has celebrated her life and career as one of absolute self-definition. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that she should choose to bring Shauna Cross's inspirational story about the extent to which this fascinating sport brought about such significant change in her life, to the screen.

Ellen Page (who was nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in Juno), is fantastic as Bliss. She is well-supported by a great supporting cast which includes Juliette Lewis as 'Iron Maven', Barrymore as 'Smashley Simpson', Saturday Night Live's Kristen Wiig as 'Maggie Mayhem' and Alia Shawkat as her best friend and confidante 'Pash'. Bliss's 'Hurl Scouts' teammates are complemented by actual roller derby stars, which not only lends the film a crucial authenticity in its many fast and furious roller derby sequences, but also balances out the recognisable actors in the cast with a nicely-grounded lack of pretension.

While it eventually suffers from a serious bout of roller derby repetition and fatigue, Whip It wins points for opting to keep it real. It also benefits from a great soundtrack and some powerful confrontations about the importance of independence and aspiring to live the life you want to live. It's also interesting to discover a film that places burgeoning young love in a meaningful context, and the manner in which Bliss refuses to have her exciting new journey interrupted for very long by her love for young muso Oliver (Landon Pigg), is absolutely refreshing. Ultimately, Whip It is a very impressive debut behind the camera for Ms Barrymore, and a film that will, if nothing else, introduce the wonderful world of roller derby to yet more fans and followers.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: 2012

2012. 151 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Roland Emmerich. Written by Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser.

One of the many great attractions of cinema is the artform's ability to create magic – to capture our imagination and transport us to another time and place where we spend time sharing in the lives of others. We can walk away from the cinema enriched, moved, educated and entertained. We can spend hours afterwards discussing the story, the characters, particular scenes and how we feel about what we have just witnessed. When magic happens in the cinema, it has the power to change the way we think about life and our place in the world. It can, in short, be the most enriching experience. But when we are promised magic and it never appears, then it's an entirely different story.

When science-fiction writer Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) discovers that Earth is about to be destroyed by an environmental catastrophe that will trigger a contintent-swamping mega-tsunami, he also learns that gigantic arks have been secretly built (in China) to ensure the survival of humanity. At one billion euros (one a half billion Australian dollars) a ticket, Curtis cannot hope to afford tickets for his ex-wife and his two children, so instead, he resolves to find these massive lifeboats and smuggle his family onboard.

It's almost impossible to imagine what went wrong with this film. Its classy production pedigree, experienced cast and a massive $200 million plus budget should have guaranteed at least something – but the lazy, cliché-ridden script and the awful "acting" combine to result in a film so incomprehensibly bad that it is only ever, and almost immediately, just boring. While a couple of the set-pieces are impressively imagined (watch out for a rogue aircraft carrier heading for Washington DC), the lavish scale of the end-of-the-world destruction sequences actually only results in them only looking and feeling fake. That they wipe-out most of the film's cloyingly bad acting actually only ends up being a blessed relief.

Emmerich (Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 BC) and composer-turned-screenplay-writer Kloser, share all the responsibility for this monumental dud that utterly fails to generate one moment of genuine emotion or interest throughout its tedious, interminable two-and-a-half hour running time. But even so, Emmerich has actually achieved something quite unique. He's managed to make a film about the end of the world that I, for one, couldn't have cared less about. Maybe that is a kind of magic after all?

DVD Review: A Serious Man

A Serious Man. 105 minutes. Rated M. Written and Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

With characters that redefine "quirky" (such as the childless, baby-thieving anti-heros in Raising Arizona), often found in situations that stretch the limits of credibility (The Big Lebowksi's mobster-inspired, mistaken identity/kidnapping plot), the films of Joel and Ethan Coen (more popularly referred to as "The Coen Brothers") are often considered to be an acquired taste. Discussion and debate about their prolific output, which also includes the Oscar-winning Fargo (1996), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007) and Burn After Reading (2008), is always guaranteed to divide audiences either side of the line between rampant, adoring fans and those who just don't get what all the fuss is about.

And while their latest offering will certainly not be to everyone's taste, A Serious Man is a scene by scene and, in fact, moment by moment, cinematic masterpiece – one of those rare, superb, faultless films that, while it's convenient to describe it as a 'black comedy', actually defies both genre and convention. Powered by the work of one of Hollywood's most gifted cinematographers Roger Deakins' (a Coen Brothers' regular), in stunning form, a brilliantly layered, insightful and marvellously original script, and a cast made up almost entirely of relative unknowns giving the performances of their lives, A Serious Man is a mesmerising and hugely rewarding experience.

Professor Larry Gopnik's (a magnificent Michael Stuhlbarg, pictured) life is falling apart. His snappy and acerbic wife Judith (Sari Lennick) announces she is "seeing" a friend of theirs, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), and wants a divorce. His no-hoper brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is a guest in the family home and is making no attempt whatsoever to move out. His daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is powering through life (and every room in the house) with typical teenage angst and fury, while his pot-head son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is nervously preparing for his Bar Mitzvah while trying to avoid his drug-dealing neighbour to whom he owes twenty dollars. And that's just the beginning of Larry's problems!

Returning to the world of their childhoods (Midwest America in the late 1960s), the Coen Brothers and their team work undeniable miracles of storytelling and filmmaking in every frame. While some of their Jewish faith-based intricacies are likely to be lost in translation, the subtle (and occasionally not-so-subtle) exploration of entirely universal themes results in an almost gravity-defying level of engagement. Stuhlbarg is purely astonishing in his first leading role in front of the camera – and it is his performance alone, within this extraordinary luxury of riches, that will win your heart. Highly recommended.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and an edited version of it was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: Alien

Alien. 117 minutes (Director's Cut 137 minutes). Rated M. Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by Dan O'Bannon

Thirty years after its original release, Ridley Scott's Alien remains one of the most influential films of the contemporary science fiction genre – not to mention a terrifically thrilling film in its own right. Alien firmly belongs in the era of impressively resourceful and imaginative filmmaking – free from the now familiar obsession with computer generated imagery which, at worst, has replaced the artform's intrinsic storytelling value with a catalogue of eye-popping visual effects and little else.

The commercial towing spaceship Nostromo's return to earth is interrupted by a mysterious transmission from a distant planetoid (LV-426). The crew, awoken from hyper-sleep by 'Mother' (the ship's computer), are surprised to find that the Nostromo has been been redirected to investigate the origins of the distress call. Landing on the environmentally hostile LV-426, Warrant Officer Ripley (a 30 year-old Sigourney Weaver in her feature film debut), eventually deciphers the signal as some kind of warning while, at the same time, the crew discover a derelict alien spacecraft that has crashed onto the planetoid's surface. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Alien's lasting effectiveness is powered by Ridley Scott's commitment to telling us a fantastic story and his uncompromising vision for how his film should look and feel. Unlike today, when much of a film's visual effectiveness is added courtesy of computers, every detail of what appears onscreen in Alien needed to exist in front of the camera as the film was being shot. This included not only a range of immensely detailed sets, special effects, models and miniatures, but also the massive Nostromo set (constructed to precise NASA specifications), which was built as one massive system of complex passageways and chambers – complete with a floor made up of upside-down milk crates painted silver.

Scott, too, relentlessly drove his outstanding cast to levels of extreme emotional and physical discomfort – heightening the real sense of apprehension, claustrophobia and panic among the Nostromo's increasingly fearful crew. The Swiss surrealist H R Giger's Alien design (based on his lithograph Necronom IV), not only radically departed from the human-like alien designs of past science fiction films, but also provided the film with its wealth of startling, other-worldy visual originality. 

The success of Alien resulted in James Cameron's Aliens, Alien 3 (abandoned by director David Fincher) and Alien: Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet), while Alien vs Predator (2004) and Alien vs Predator – Requiem (2007) succeeded in achieving nothing but compromising (and ending) the series in a flurry of tacky exploitation. Ridley Scott has recently announced that he has commenced work on a prequel – Alien 5 – in 3D. Given that he has expressed disappointment with how the series was left to die a slow and artless death, it will be fascinating to see how Scott approaches his return to a story that began his, now, illustrious career.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Geraldton Guardian.

DVD Review: Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia. 123 minutes. Rated PG. Written and directed by Nora Ephron. Based on the books by Julie Powell, Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme

Before Nigella Lawson and Gordon Ramsay, there was Julia Child: an American chef, author and television personality who not only pioneered the concept of 'the celebrity chef', but who, with her seminal culinary work Mastering the Art of French Cooking, introduced the wonders of French cuisine and cooking techniques to the English-speaking world.

It is 1948, and diplomat Paul Child (The Lovely Bones' Stanley Tucci), is assigned to Paris by the US Foreign Service. His wife, Julia Child (a formidable Meryl Streep), finds herself in Paris with nothing to occupy either her time or her marvellously adventurous curiosity. Finding herself constantly frustrated by the lack of English language recipe translations of her beloved French cuisine, Julia sets out to study and explore the culinary landscape.

It is also 2002, and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is a young writer, trapped in a clinically bland call centre answering telephone calls from victims of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. To provide some respite from her harrowing day job, Powell decides to set herself a monumental challenge: to cook every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days.

Ms Ephron's (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle) long and reverential split-narrative script makes for really hard going – especially in the faintly-drawn contemporary sequences where Ms Adams (and Chris Messina as her husband 'Eric') really have their work cut out for them eliciting any continuing genuine interest in their comparatively boring relationship and Ms Powell's, essentially, entirely pointless undertaking.

Fortunately, courtesy of Ben Barraud's gorgeous art direction, Mark Ricker's flawless production design and Stephen Goldblatt's (Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief) outstanding cinematography, the film looks absolutely beautiful. While, in real life, Julia Child summarily dismissed Ms Powell's endeavour, it would have been fascinating to hear what she had to say about this imagining of her life. I imagine she would have 'loved Meryl and Stanley' but wished for 'a lot less of young Miss Powell'. Touché … and bon appetit!

DVD Review: This Is It

This Is It. 111 minutes. Rated G. Directed by Kenny Ortega.

In March 2009, Michael Jackson announced his "final curtain call" – a series of 10 concerts at London's O2 arena. Titled This Is It, and billed as one of the year's most important musical events, the initial 10 date schedule was increased to 50 – all of which sold out within hours of the tickets going on sale. The concerts were to commence on July 13, 2009 and conclude on March 6, 2010 – but less than three weeks before the first show, Michael Jackson was dead. He was 50 years old.

While much of his adult life has been defined by a maelstrom of personal, professional, legal and financial controversies, it is impossible to deny that Michael Jackson was not only one of the most influential entertainers of our age, but also one of the most successful. Throughout his career, Jackson released 13 No.1 singles, won 13 Grammy Awards and is recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time. His 1982 album Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time, having sold more than 110 million (of the estimated career total of 750 million) copies.

In the weeks leading up to the epic This Is It concerts, Jackson rehearsed at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles (where his memorial service would later be held) under the direction of director/choreographer Kenny Ortega (the three High School Musical movies). Edited from more than 100 hours of footage, the result is a mesmerising, behind-the-scenes documentary that succeeds – spectacularly – on every level. From the introspective moments to the dazzling technological sequences where digital environments created for certain songs (Earth Song and Smooth Criminal in particular) break free from their sumptuous screen-bound representations and literally burst onto the stage, This Is It is an engrossing experience.

The painstaking preparation, the gruelling dance routines and the exchanges between Jackson and his collaborators (particularly the dancers and musicians whose flair, precision and talent is exemplary) combine to create a rarified atmosphere of candour and intimacy – even as the massive concert's technical infrastructure takes shape around them. Given the fact that the concerts were never performed, Jackson's "it's your turn to shine" moment with South Australian-born guitarist Orianthi Panagaris is an especially poignant example of the many potentially life-changing experiences that were never to eventuate. And while this tragedy pervades every moment of our viewing experience, it goes nowhere towards reducing the creative power and supreme artistry that Jackson and his team were preparing to unfurl before the adoring concert ticket-holders.

For anyone interested in the creative process and all that goes into the preparation of a major international concert, this is an absorbing, luxury of riches we may otherwise never have witnessed. For Michael Jackson fans, it's compulsory viewing.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Geraldton Guardian.

DVD Review: Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure. 77 minutes. Rated G. Directed by Klay Hall; Written by Evan Spiliotopoulos from a story by Klay Hall.

Tinker Bell has come a long way since her inception in J M Barrie's play (1904) and novel (1911) Peter and Wendy, which would eventually morph into the classic Disney animation Peter Pan (1953). Introduced by Barrie as "a common fairy", Tinker Bell was famous for her moody and occasionally obstreperous behaviour, and at the end of the novel, she was dead.

Tinker Bell has also long been the unofficial mascot of Walt Disney Pictures. It is her that, for decades, tapped her magic wand over the company's logo and it is her, still, that creates a beautiful arc of fairy dust over the stunning new animated logo sequence that announces the studio's films today. Given her iconic status in the Disney oeuvre, it's peculiar that they have taken as long as they have to elevate her from 'logo duty' into a leading role; but if this glorious film is any indication (and there are two more in pre-production), the situation has finally been remedied. And what an absolute delight it is!

Tinker Bell (perfectly voiced by Mae Whitman) is chosen to create a ceremonial sceptre that, by incorporating the rare and precious blue moonstone, will provide the fairies of Pixie Hollow with enough blue fairy dust to replenish the Pixie Dust Tree. When her well-meaning best friend Terrence (an endearing Jesse McCartney) inadvertently wreaks havoc in her workshop, our adorable Tinker Bell must travel 'north of Neverland' in search of a magic mirror that will enable her to repair the damage and complete her important task.

Lovingly crafted and visually magnificent, Disney have lavished a dazzling array of talent on this little masterpiece. The lavish colour palette, environments and lighting are reminiscent of the magic of James Cameron's Avatar, and while the script labours early on with the odd long and literal sequence which may begin to bore the really little ones, the majestic artistry of the animation and the perils of the Tinker Bell's engrossing adventure, will keep the majority of the audience wide-eyed, stunned and amazed.

Most fantastically, Tinker Bell has rightfully assumed her long-overdue leading-lady status. She is one smart, feisty, inventive and clever little fairy and, with a gloriously imagined supporting cast of fairies and creatures (including a scene-stealing firefly called 'Blaze'), this is destined to become a much-loved addition to the collection that may well inspire a whole new generation of young girls to treasure their friendships (even with all their flaws), and believe not only in themselves, but in all that it is possible to achieve. And in the current environment of boys-own adventures where the girls are relegated to second-tier supporting players, that is really something to celebrate!

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: Ponyo

Ponyo. 100 minutes. Rated G. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

In 2002, Japanese writer and director Hayao Miyazaki captivated audiences around the world (and won the Academy Award® for Best Animated Film) with the stunning Spirited Away – the highest-grossing film in Japanese cinema history. Enter Pixar supremo John Lasseter (A Bug's Life, Toy Story, Cars, WALL-E). Lasseter, a huge Miyazaki fan, encouraged Walt Disney Pictures to acquire the rights to the film, and an English language version of the film ensured it reached a significantly larger, world-wide audience. And with Ponyo, he's done it again.

Five-year-old Sosuke (perfectly voiced by the youngest Jonas Brother, Frankie) lives in a house, high on a cliff near a small town by the sea. His mother Lisa (30 Rock's brilliant Tina Fey), works at the elderly citizens' home while his father Koichi (Matt Damon), spends days away from home working on a cargo ship. One morning, while Sosuke is playing on the rocky beach below his home, he rescues a goldfish who has become trapped in a jar. He names her Ponyo (divinely voiced by Miley's younger sister Noah Cyrus), and dutifully cares for her in a little green bucket. But Ponyo's guardian, the wicked sorcerer Fujimoto (Liam Neeson), wants her back – and what ensues is an epic battle of the elements, as Sosuke must prove his ability to love and care for the little goldfish/girl.

This visually dazzling animation adventure (with an English-language script guided by ET: The Extra-Terrestrial writer Melissa Mathison) will delight audiences of all ages. As he did with Spirited Away, Miyazaki proves again that he is one of the masters of writing mesmerising stories for children that are never condescending or patronising, and which don't dare to shy away from compelling themes – which in this case include pollution, the environment, mythology and family responsibilities.

The DVD includes the original Japanese language version (with English subtitles) and the English-language version, which also includes the voices of Cate Blanchett, Cloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin and Betty White (Rose in The Golden Girls). And while it's very poor on the additional special features front, you need not be concerned – because if ever there was a film guaranteed to have the young ones rushing to find their coloured pencils, then this is it.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: G-Force

G-Force. 88 minutes. Rated PG. Directed by Hoyt Yeatman; Written by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley.

When a young Hoyt Yeatman Jnr (the Director's son) used to dress his pet guinea pig up in combat gear borrowed from his GI Joe doll, little did he know that this simple distraction would become the nucleus of an idea pitched to live-action uber-Producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Carribean).

The result is a dazzling tour de force of flawlessly combined live-action and computer-generated animation so entirely captivating that adults will adore it as much as the children do! Mr Bruckheimer (whose trademarks are excessively high stakes and cinematic wonderment), obviously threw everything he could at this fantastic idea about a special squad of highly-trained guinea pigs who are intent on preventing billionaire Leonard Saber (a perfect Bill Nighy) from realising his diabolical plan to rule the world by creating a global regime of networked electrical appliances. And yes, the "killer cappuccino" line is one of many peppered throughout the hilariously witty script that will be guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages.

From the spectacular opening sequence, when Darwin (perfectly voiced by Sam Rockwell) leads his crack team of special agents Blaster (Tracy Morgan), Juarez (Penelope Cruz) and computer expert mole Speckles (Nicholas Cage) on a mission to infiltrate Mr Saber's enviable mansion (there's always one of those!) to the explosive finale, the miniature world of high-tech gadgets and gizmos is both magnificently imagined and superbly realised.

While the storyline and characterisations might contribute to Hollywood's seemingly never-ending love affair with stereotypical characters in stereotypical situations, you can't take anything away from the spirited performances of the stellar cast and the extraordinary production values – resulting a film of great escapist entertainment value; complete with a punchy (and at times quite affecting) through-line about belonging, individuality and a modern notion of 'family'. And I guarantee you won't ever be able to look at a guinea pig in quite the same way again!

This review was commissioned by The Geraldton Guardian and published in the print edition.