Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

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Isn’t it a delightful surprise when a sequel that was never asked for beats a whole bunch of frontrunners at the box office? Admittedly I’m a bit behind on my reviewing game, apologies about that, as work/life has gotten in the way, but here I am to talk about a sequel that is still making bank and has proved to be one of the most interesting and enigmatic successes: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Many years after Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) was almost married off to the zany ghost Beetlejuice, she has found herself with a successful career as a paranormal TV personality, with a manipulating fiancé, and having a daughter who doesn’t want to be around her. Even worse, recently it seems that she’s seeing Beetlejuice everywhere. When her father passes, Lydia, Delia (Catherine O’Hara), and Lydia’s daughter Astrid (Jena Ortega) find themselves back in Winter River at their old house, mourning and getting into trouble as Astrid accidentally opens a door to the Afterlife. In order to save Astrid, Lydia must, once again, ask Beetlejuice for help at the price of maybe ending up as his bride… again.

It's really interesting to think that these are probably the most successful movies that are named after a supporting character. Apparently, Michel Keaton upon signing up for the sequel requested that he only remain on screen for the same amount of time as in the first movie… which was only just over 17 minutes. While neither film is primarily about Beetlejuice, both the original and the sequel are fun and delightful explorations into how supporting characters can end up stealing the show.

Equally as zany and fun as the first movie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is an absolute romp! It’s basically a return to the original 1988 classic, with the practical and makeup effects being a little more polished, a crisper use of Claymation, a set of fresh semi-exciting stories, and the best use of Macarthur Park since Priscilla the Musical! Not to mention the wonderful homage to Brian De Palma's Carrie at the end. Watch out for that. 

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While there is a load of predictability in the narrative and some of the character arcs, the fun of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice comes in the form of Burton’s fascination with the afterlife and how it’s probably a lot closer to home than we think. Just as in the first movie, very little about the inner workings of the Afterlife is explained, the most we get is that people get deposited to new Otherworldly destinations by way of the Soul Train… and yes, the disco joke is not lost at all! We are reminded a bit of Corpse Bride when that decrepit skeleton famously said, "why go up there when people are dying to get down here?"

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is perfect for a mindless night out at the movies. It’s easy to follow, it’s vibrant, and just a good load of fun. I would recommend it, definitely!

Director: Tim Burton, 2024

Cast: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Jena Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux, Arthur Conti, & Danny DeVito

Borderlands

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Cinema is supported by a number of foundations: the sturdiest being the adaptation. Most of cinema’s bulk, and shape, and heft is made up of adaptations. They have started and sometimes ended entire careers. Heck, they have even spawned and reared major motion picture studios! And like any core pillar, the phenomenon of adaptations has splintered into beams that help support and widen the reach of cinema, adding to its mighty girth.

Obviously, adaptations of books and traditional oral stories have been inspiring and reshaping cinema for over a century, but as humanity has concocted new ways to tell stories and entertain itself, new subgenres of adaptations have appeared. The subject of today’s film review falls into one such subgenre: the videogame adaptation.

Videogame adaptations are not necessarily new, but they are certainly rising to prominence in a rather quick and feverish fashion. Within the last 5 years alone we have seen a solid number of movies and TV shows spawned from the videogame genre: Fallout, The Last of Us, The SuperMario Bros Movie, Five Nights At Freddy’s, and it has been confirmed that Alien: Romulus has been inspired by the videogame Alien: Isolation. This week, I treated myself to a solo night out for dinner and a movie and went and saw the newest addition to this list: Borderlands.

On the wasteland planet of Pandora there is a vault that is said to contain technologies from an alien race known as the Eridians. Vault hunters have been after this treasure for years, but no one has ever gotten close to finding it, let alone opening it. Until now. When the CEO of the Atlas Corporation hires cynical and bad-tempered bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) to rescue his kidnapped daughter, it seems like an easy cheque. Until Lilith discovers that Atlas’ ‘daughter’ is actually a clone that he engineered to be the key to opening the Eridian Vault and her return to Atlas would very likely be her end. Lilith joins the ragtag team protecting Tiny Tina from Atlas, aiming to get to the Vault first and give Tina the upper hand against him.

This movie has been universally panned by critics and gamers alike, apparently hosting a myriad of ailments including being a mashup of various game narratives, an oppressive lack of narrative and character development, a terrible botching of beloved characters, and an overall attempt to be like Mad Max meets Guardians of the Galaxy and failing miserably. I agree that the movie suffers from all these things. I also agree with Jamie Tram in their ABC review of the film: “Borderlands is competent enough to simply be forgettable.”

Let me clarify that I do not consider myself a gamer, though I do play videogames, and I have never played any of the Borderlands games or knew anything about them when entering the cinema on Wednesday night. I review this movie simply as a movie. I walked in expecting garbage, but I was pleasantly presented with hot garbage -thanks to the ethereal luminescence of Cate Blanchett- and I honestly had a fun time by myself watching this film.

I agree that the writing is definitely where the film falls flat on its face, but honestly I’m inclined to chalk that to the fact that this film was in Development Hell since 2015 so by the time actual filming and production rolled around, everyone had already given up. Do you remember that trick of removing a stick of gum from the wrapper and then folding the wrapper again so that it still looked like it contained gum? That’s this movie. It’s got a very shiny and enticing wrapper that holds the promise of sweetness or minty freshness within, but it’s just empty. The story is very predictable, even for people who wander in completely oblivious to the source material, and there is no real camaraderie between the characters so it’s very hard to form any sort of emotional investment in them. At one point there is a semi-interesting theme of maternalism that gets minutely explored, but it doesn’t really go anywhere so that fascination is short-lived.

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All the cast did a fine job. I could honestly watch Cate Blanchett all day and, to be fair, it did look like she was having a rather fun time so I can get behind that. Jack black as the robot Claptrap was cutely sarcastic, Jamie Lee Curtis as researcher Tannis was quite entertaining to watch, Ariana Greenblatt, while no Ashley Birch, did a solid job of Tiny Tina, and Kevin Hart is there too.

Visually, the film is kinda cool. The dystopian wasteland of Pandora, while nothing we haven’t already seen, is still a good setting for the various forms of violence that flavour the film, and the space-age trinkets and technologies still provide some fun novelty.

Can Borderlands be considered cinematic art? Absolutely not. Could things have been better? 100%. But at the end of the day, I still had a nice time out watching this movie: I chuckled a few times, my mind did not wander to other things, and I left the cinema feeling that I had not wasted my time.

Director: Eli Roth, 2024

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt, Jack Black, Florian Munteanu, Janina Gavankar, Gina Hershon, Hayley Bennett, Edgar Ramirez, & Jamie Lee Curtis.

Deadpool & Wolverine

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It’s always wonderful to go and see a movie that you have been looking forward to for ages and have it absolutely live up to your expectations. That feeling is just, mwuh, chef’s kiss. I got to experience the deliciousness of it last weekend when partner and I took ourselves to the cinema and saw Deadpool & Wolverine.

Wade Wilson’s (aka Deadpool) world is in peril. Serious peril. After a visit from the TVA, Wade learns that the sole person anchoring his timeline to reality is gone and without them, the whole timeline is doomed to crumble and disappear completely. Not so jazzed about this, Wade travels through multiple timelines to find a replacement for the anchor that his timeline has lost: Wolverine. Bringing back a Wolverine who has failed his own timeline, Wade is convinced that he has saved the world and earned his place amongst its mightiest heroes, only to discover that the TVA division who visited him have their own agenda. Sent with Wolverine to The Void, Wade must find a way back home, inspire a drunk and violent Wolverine to become a hero, and stop Charles Xavier’s psychotic sister from engulfing not just his timeline, but every timeline.

I was so excited for this movie and it did not disappoint. From the opening credits, the entire film is a blood-soaked, foul-mouthed, meta-stuffed joyride that had partner and I laughing from the first minute.

Coloured by the signature metafiction, fourth-wall breaks, and not-so-subtle digs at Disney’s cinematic history that made the first movie so effing hilarious, Deadpool & Wolverine carries a weighty story of emotional growth and character development underneath the waves of sarcasm and crudity. Wade is on a journey of self-importance and discovery, beginning the film unsure of his own importance without the mask and trying to find a way to make his life and his talents have meaning. In true Deadpool fashion, he achieves this in a really violent, verbal, and round-about way that even he’s not sure will pay off.

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Hugh Jackman is back as a sulky, dispirited, and short-fused Wolverine who also goes on a trip to discover his self-importance and become a hero. The relationship forged between the two is delightfully standoffish, aggressive, awkward, competitive and makes for a very fun time: mostly laugh-out-loud funny, but with a very subtle sweetness underlying it.

Without a doubt though, the star of the show are the writers who have managed to cram so much meta and social commentary comedy into the mix that it runs the risk of exploding. Between the resurgence of characters that the Marvel universe forgot and the broken Fox Studios sign that reminds us of the final scene of Planet of the Apes, this film is a gut-buster: a complete, shambolic, chaotic, insane, gut-buster. And I loved every minute of it! If there’s one movie you see in cinemas this year, make it this one!

Director: Shawn Levy, 2024

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfayden, Dafne Keen, Jon Favreau, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes, Chris Evans, Aaron Stanford, Wunmi Mosaku, Karan Soni, Tyler Mane, Channing Tatum, & Henry Cavill

Inside Out 2

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With the exception of Toy Story, Pixar have not had a particularly good track record when it comes to making sequels. While follow-up stories that feature many of our favourite characters are enticing enough to ensure bums in seats, the last string of Pixar sequels have been considered narratively lackluster and predictable.

While Pixar has by no means broken this pattern of easily predictable plot twists with their latest sequel, Inside Out 2, they have nonetheless managed to produce a follow-up movie that is intelligent, sweet, and relatable.

Riley’s emotions have been living together in perfect harmony for a while now, but when the ‘puberty’ alarm goes off one day, Joy, Disgust, Fear, Anger, and Sadness suddenly find themselves having to make room for a whole new host of emotions – and not everyone is seeing eye-to-eye. As Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui move into Headquarters, Joy and her friends find themselves being suppressed and finally kicked out of Headquarters altogether. With Riley on the cusp of starting high school and the new emotions reshaping her entire personality, Joy and the others are racing against time to get back to Headquarters and save the Riley they know.

While the ultimate message of the film is the same as the first - the fact that we need to experience bad days and hurtful emotions in order to become a well-rounded and functional human being – Inside Out 2 cleverly and funnily explores the intricacies of those more complicated emotions that tend to shape us during a most impressionable and (often) emotionally traumatic time: adolescence. Seriously, how many adults spend their time talking to their therapists about what happened to them in high school? My hand is raised.

The cleverness of the Inside Out movies is that there are really no villains, rather it’s the ignorance and tunnel-vision of the characters that causes the drama. This idea is very sweetly depicted through the new character of Anxiety, voiced beautifully by Maya Hawke. Anxiety enters as the ‘leader’ of the new emotional recruits, essentially being a counterpart of Joy. And while the film depicts her as something of a dictator and villain, it’s also made clear that she is acting in (what she perceives to be) Riley’s best interests. Thus, this captivating drama unfolds with Anxiety trying to prepare Riely for the coming years, but ultimately causing distress and drama.

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The seriousness of the film’s themes is then delightfully lifted with many cleverly written jokes and puns like Riley’s ‘stream of consciousness’ – a literal river that features whatever Riley is thinking about- and the dreaded sar-chasm. The heart-warming humour mixed with the colourful characters makes Inside out 2 a great film for both children and adults – transcending generational boundaries, hell yeah!

Filled with important messages about mental and emotional health, as well as comedy, drama, and action, Inside Out 2 is a delightful little film that really is fun for the whole family.

Director: Kelsey Mann, 2024

Cast: Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Tony Hale, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Liza Lapira, Ayo Edibiri, Lilimar, Grace Lu, Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green, Adele Exarchopoulos, Yvette Ncole Brown, Diane Lane & Kyle McLachlan

Bride & Prejudice

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Fresh and upgraded interpretations of a classic tale are always enjoyable; a testament to the cleverness, power, and longevity of the base narrative. While I certainly did not enjoy studying Shakespeare in English class, I cannot deny that the stories he came out with are timeless. It proves to be the same with Jane Austen, one of my favourite authors. For movie night a couple of weeks ago, best friend and myself settled in for a night of vibrant colours, costumes, music, and banter: we did Bride & Prejudice.

Lalita Bakshi and her sisters live happily with their parents in India. But there is a wider would out there with fortunes to be gained and security to be established. The marriage of a friend brings Lalita, Jaya, Maya, and Lakhi into the orbit of rich English and American developers and conflict ensues when cultural, socio-economic, and geographical preferences clash. Lalita draws the eye of William Darcy, and an unusual courtship takes place, fuelled by prejudice, pride, wealth, and cultural appropriation.

Celebrating the splendour of Bollywood, Bride & Prejudice is a fun and fresh retelling of a classic tale of romance, social conflict, and political standings. The fact that it’s a retelling of Pride and Prejudice works for itself and the film heightens this delightful story with an incredible wardrobe, breathtaking dance sequences, and a banging musical soundtrack.

The performances are all great, with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan being sassy, smart, and gorgeous as Lalita, Nitin Ganatra bringing new life to the Mr. Collins character, and Nadira Babbar delivers a brilliant portrayal of the mother.

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Filled with witty banter, amazing costumes, catchy tunes, and romance, Bride & Prejudice is a very fun and fresh retelling of a classic love story. If you’re a fan of Austen and Pride and Prejudice, then it’s worth a watch.

Director: Gurinder Chadha (2005)

Cast: Martin Henderson, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Nadira Babbar, Anupam Kher, Naveen Andrews, Namrata Shirodkar, Daniel Gillies, Indira Varma, Sonali Kulkarni, Nitin Ganatra, Meghna Kothari, Peeya Rai Chowdhary, Marsha Mason, Alexis Bledel & Ashanti

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

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It’s an odd feeling when a franchise gets rebooted, to fairly positive applause, and then gets a sequel that just doesn’t hit the same heights or notes of the reboot. It just goes to show that rebooting beloved cinematic greats are a slippery slope indeed. This train of thought comes from going along to see Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, after quite enjoying Afterlife. All I can say is that the sequel is fine, but nowhere near as enjoyable as its predecessor.

The new Ghostbusters have set themselves up in the old haunt from days bygone, and while there is plenty of work to keep them occupied, it is not without its problems. Constantly getting in trouble for damages to both private and public property, the strain is really put on when Mayor Peck threatens to shut them down if Pheobe (still being a minor) continues to work for them. As familial tensions begin to run high, a new spook threatens humanity: one that will literally leave its victims frozen in fear.

I think everything about this movie was fine and nothing more. Alongside the age-old threat that gets unknowingly unleashed and threatens to bring about a second Ice Age, we have the emotional dramas of teenage angst and its role in familial conflict. Pheobe becomes the annoying adolescent who thinks they know everything and while there is absolutely some truth to this – seeing as she is up against ‘dickless’ from the very first movie – it nevertheless becomes annoying very quickly as well as narratively predictable.

Alongside the family drama we have another ancient evil that threatens the world: a pretty cool exhibition of creature design and computer wizardry. Equipment, gags, and scenes from the original classic are back in the spotlight causing the same problems as before, but because the capturing and containment of apparitions became a science back in the ‘80s there are a number of cool and fascinating upgrades that come into play.

At the end of the day, I just found this sequel a bit lacking. The personal dramas of the characters that run alongside the central conflict are predicable and even lackluster, the character growth is kind of boring and minimal, and there aren’t really any new jokes to lift the film’s spirit.

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Filled with action, chases, drama, and a race against time, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a fine and kind of fun way to pass the time, but I definitely feel that there is more love and enjoyment to be had from its predecessor.

Director: Gil Kenan (2024)

Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Logan Kim, Celeste O’Connor, Patton Oswalt, Emily Alyn Lind, Kumail Nanjiani, Ernie Hudson, Dan Akroyd, Annie Potts, & William Atherton

What About Sal?

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I was thinking recently about resilience and the cinema. Take a moment to think about all the changes that have happened within the last 5-10 years that could have really posed a threat to the medium. The rise of streaming services and constant accessible content, and of course, Covid, being the big heavy hitters. But despite both these things, the cinema has continued to lure people into its theatres and delight them with an enjoyable excursion away from the couch. And I’m really thankful for this because if cinema had crumpled and then disappeared completely after Covid, then beautiful little niche films that exist in small reservoirs outside of the mainstream, would go completely unnoticed.

Despite it being a very cold and rainy night on Saturday, I took myself into Newtown and caught up with a friend to support Australian cinema. We treated ourselves to a beautiful little film written, directed, and starring John Jarratt: What About Sal?

When his mother is diagnosed with lung cancer Sal (Gerard O’Dwyer), a 30-year-old retail assistant with Down Syndrome, goes on a quest to find his father – a singer in a rock band that his mother had a one-time stand with thirty years ago.

This is a really sweet and moving little film that proves that you don’t need all the bells and whistles of big-name actors, fast-paced action, and eye-exploding special effects to have a nice time at the movies. A simple story featuring a tiny cast and filmed on the streets of Sydney during Covid, What About Sal? celebrates the simplicity of the quest narrative, enlightens audiences with the plight of a marginalised minority, and inspires audiences to hope that things can get better.

In three acts the film establishes this beautiful world in which Sal, his mother, and their close friends exist, breaks it apart when the mother is hospitalised and Sal runs away to find his father, and then reknits itself as Sal achieves his goal and then starts on a new quest to help his father overcome his alcoholism. Sweetness and sparkling hope flares from the darkest and dingiest spaces in this film and it’s really moving to see the hero, with his unique way of thinking, persevering and then achieving the impossible.

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The performances are all impeccable, the cast breathing so much life and substance into such a small production.

It’s a film about love, redemption, and proving one’s invaluable worth in the world. It’s truly lovely.

Director: John Jarratt, 2023

Cast: Gerard O’Dwyer, John Jarratt, Kaarin Fairfax, Justin Banks, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Pearl Herbert, Ric Herbert, Peter Hehir, Camilla Ah Kin, Joanne Samuel & Kurt Ramjan.