With the new suspense thriller ‘Nerve’, starring Dave Franco and Emma Roberts hitting cinemas this week Roadshow films have just released these fantastic new Behind The Scenes featurettes that take you, the viewer, behind the scenes of some of the most important scenes in the film.
‘Nerve’ hits Australian cinemas on the 1st September.
Nerve: Bergdorf Dare Behind The Scenes
Nerve: Machine Kelly Behind The Scenes
Nerve: Tattoo By The Fat Jew Behind The Scenes
FILM REVIEW [BLADE RUNNER 2049]
The ideas in Blade Runner were what made it such a cult hit, the need to go back to that world again and again to ponder the questions it raised. To that end Blade Runner 2049 continues the tradition, there is a lot left to ponder when you leave the cinema and subsequent viewings will reveal things missed the first time around. This is a long movie that makes you feel every minute of it but patient viewers should find many rewards.
Keeping to a minimum any plot spoilers, Ryan Gosling plays a Blade Runner named “K” in this new movie. While on a case he discovers a secret that warrants further investigation, with links to the past that could shake the modern world. This will lead him to Harrison Ford’s Deckard, but this is Gosling’s film first and foremost. It will also take him to the corporation that now produces replicants 30 years on from the original movie. Run by Niander Wallace, Jared Leto plays him as a power-mad genius with a God like complex. Sylvia Hoeks plays his replicant offsider Luv in a performance that will be discussed for years to come, Luv visibly emotes several times (the shedding of tears repeats throughout like the viewing of eyes in the original) yet her motivations and true feelings remain a mystery. She’s pretty good at delivering karate kicks too.
There are two women in K’s life; the first is his boss Lt. Joshi played by Robin Wright who has a ruthless side but also maybe a soul. The second is at the heart of the film’s themes with the most fascinating relationship dynamic. K like Deckard before him is socially withdrawn and isolated. Deckard drank and had a piano. K has a hologram named Joi that looks like Ana De Armas and responds to his every prompt even when he doesn’t realize he’s prompting. Obviously that kind of technology could be used for one thing but K is trying not to follow that path. He wants a real relationship with Joi where she develops her own thoughts and feelings and gets her own freedom. Throughout we see her as a cheerleader for K yes, but she also drives some of the narrative displaying her own autonomy. She prompts him to do things, intervenes against others when he is not present and makes her own decisions. Yet all of this comes from coding responding to interactions with him. Does that mean it’s not real or is that any different from the way human are biologically designed? There is a scene later in the film that could provide the answer and it is heartbreaking, Ana De Armas plays so many notes effortlessly and this should prove a break-out role for her.
Harrison Ford plays Deckard very differently here as perhaps befitting the passage of the years and what has happened to the character. Some may not agree with all the choices but there is one scene in particular where Ford is called on to do heavy lifting emotionally and he proves up to the task. Yet it is the subtleties of Gosling’s performance which should impress the most, emotionally dialed down for great chunks he still expresses a lot through his eyes. This is a man trying to keep everything internalized for various reasons but things keep bubbling to the surface. Like Ford before him, he is the reason you become invested in the film not the big ideas or A-grade special effects.
The influence of the original Blade Runner’s production design and effects cannot be overstated. Critics of that film still cite the compelling visuals and the challenge was to create something new that felt like a natural progression of that world. Blade Runner 2049 expands the world taking us to surrounding cities outside of L.A., it still rains a lot in overcrowded cities but we’re taken out of the cities more often than not. The busy noisy streets at ground level of the little people now joined by deserted wastelands outside the city limits where the sky remains grey but there is no rain. Cars still fly, the palette is still dim and depressive but now snow falls and we see great big waves of the ocean crashing against giant man made walls built to keep them out. There will be plenty of images that will endure in the years to come from this film, not the least of which are ones involving a new type of threesome. Sound design also plays an important part, the score feels industrial and overwhelming ramping up tension and reflecting the internal dialogue of the film’s characters.
Director Denis Villeneuve coming off Sicario and Arrival is now one of the world’s most premier directors having tackled a big budget delayed sequel to a beloved classic and delivered more than just a good sequel but a great movie. It’s true the film does not have a character as charismatic and vital as Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty from the original but in its place it has Ryan Gosling in a quieter but no less engaging performance searching for what is real. Blade Runner 2049 knows what is real and asks you to ponder what is real for you?
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Screenwriter: Hampton Fancher, Michael Green
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Jared Leto, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri and Dave Bautista.
Runtime: 163 mins
Genre: Science Fiction
Summary: Terminator Genisys sees John Connor (Jason Clarke) about to defeat Skynet and its machines so to ensure the victory he sends his dedicated right-hand man Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect his mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from a potential attack.
However this is where everything changes from the original Terminator storyline. Yes when Kyle arrives back in 1984 to protect Sarah the T-1000 (Byung-hun Lee) is waiting for him but many other things are a miss. Sarah Connor is not the innocent waitress he is expecting – instead she is ready for the Armageddon that is about to happen and already has a protector, a Terminator named Pops (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who has been looking after her since she was nine years old.
Year: 2015
Australian Cinema Release Date: 2nd July, 2015
Australian DVD Release Date: TBA
Country: USA
Director: Alan Taylor
Screenwriter: Laeta Kalogridis, Patrick Lussier, James Cameron (characters), Gale Ann Hurd (characters)
Cast: Brett Azar (Guardian – young/T-800), Wayne Bastrup (Young O’Brien), Patrick Constantine Bertagnolli Jnr. (Officer Cazzuto), Kerry Cahill (Lt. Whitley), Emilia Clarke (Sarah Connor), Jason Clarke (John Connor), Kyle Russell Clements (Commander Pike Sumner), Jai Courtney (Kyle Reese), Ian Etheridge (Skynet – 10 yrs old), Matty Ferraro (Agent Janssen), Griff Furst (Agent Burke), Michael Gladis (Mt. Matias), Douglas M. Griffin (Garber), Nolan Gross (Skynet – 12/14 yrs old), Sandrine Holt (Detective Cheung), Johnny La (Harry Lu), Byung-hun Lee (Cop/T-1000), Seth Merriwether (Skynet – 18 yrs old), Dayo Okeniyi (Danny Dyson), Afemo Omilami (Perry), Bryant Prince (Young Kyle), Otto Sanchez (Detective Timmons), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Guardian) J.K. Simmons (O’Brien), Douglas Smith (Young John Connor), Matt Smith (Alex), Nathan O’Neil Smith (Officer Schanker), Willa Taylor (Young Sarah), Courtney B. Vance (Miles Dyson), Joseph Velez (Special Agent Romero), Gregory Alan Williams (Detective Harding), Teri Wybble (Mariam)
Runtime: 126 mins
Classification: M
David Griffiths:
After hearing critics and fanboys alike talking about Terminator Genisys after the screening I attended I have ended up believing that you will never ever make a fanboy happy. Over the years I have heard people complain that the latest film in the franchise ‘never does enough to tap into the earlier films in the series.’ Well that certainly isn’t the case for Terminator Genisys, here director Alan Taylor (most noted for being the man at the helm of Thor: The Dark World) takes the film right back to the happenings of Terminator and T2 and then simply doesn’t a little (okay a major) reset. So here was I thinking the fanboys would be in the same rapture I was, that was cool? Right? Wrong!!!
It seems the major problem that most fanboys are having with Terminator Genisys is that a certain character (if you’ve seen the trailer you’ll know who I am talking about) makes a massive switch of sides, through no fault of his own I should point out. Well I’m sorry but a character’s destiny isn’t exactly something that a fan of a series gets a say about. If they did then Dumbledore probably wouldn’t have died in Harry Potter and Jar Jar may have been killed off painfully in Star Wars. No what happens to characters in any franchise lies solely with the creative team behind it, so we have no right to complain. Keeping that in mind both Arnie and the man himself James Cameron gave the script for Terminator Genisys a huge thumbs up so let’s just relax and judge this film on what ended up on the big screen and not what we wanted it to be in our daydreams.
For a start the storyline of Terminator Genisys ain’t that bad. Just as I was getting déjà vu from Taylor’s re-created Terminator scenes I was suddenly jolted into a realization that while he hadn’t exactly rebooted the franchise he had delivered a pretty decent mind-wreck that had me suddenly more interested than anything in Terminator Salvation or Rise Of The Machines had. And that interest remained for the rest of the film as Taylor constantly put his characters at risk and messed with timelines. Once you have realised that the screenwriters here were only too happy to mess with existing timelines you suddenly also realise that the suspense level was raised to extreme… after all what stops them from bumping off someone major to the franchise as well?
At times the CGI in Terminator Genisys makes you suspend belief a little too much, but that is more than compensated by the fact that the screenplay gives this film a little bit heart as well. While I’m not 100% sure I enjoyed the so-called humor put into the film, Arnie pushing the point ‘old doesn’t mean obsolete’, I did enjoy the fact that suddenly questions were raised over whether or not a robot like ‘Pops’ could develop human feelings after a while. We’re kidding ourselves if we didn’t believe that Pops was seeing Sarah at his daughter for most of the film.
When it comes the cast things were a little up and down. Firstly Arnie does absolutely nothing wrong and I can only hope that when I’m nearly seventy years old that I am still wanting to jump off helicopters and get into physically demanding fights with stuntmen. Terminator Genisys shows that bar Sylvester Stallone Arnie is one of the fittest near-pensioners going around. He is also well supported by Emilia Clarke who shows that she has more than just looking pretty in Game Of Thrones in her arsenal. Here in Terminator Genisys she steps into the role of Sarah Connor with complete ease showing that she has the skills to be both a dramatic actress and an action star when she wants to be.
But there are some problems with the casting of Terminator Genisys as well. Jason Clarke is passable as John Connor, although fans of the series beware he does take some getting used to. The same can’t be said for Jai Courtney though. With all credit to Courtney we have seen in films like Jack Reacher and Divergent that this is a guy that can act and be the action hero, but here something is badly amiss. He just simply doesn’t fit into the role of Kyle Reese at all and at times his acting seems well below the par set by Emilia Clarke and yes even Arnie. If he wants to retain his role in any further Terminator films you get the feeling that Courtney is really going to have to try and step up a little.
At the end of the day Terminator Genisys is an entertaining and very different Terminator film that grew on me more and more the longer it went. Given it is nowhere near as good as Terminator or T2, but then did any of us expect it would get close to their perfection, but is a lot better than the very bland Rise Of The Machines. Yes, some people may not like the changes to the timeline but hey this could have been a lot worse and to give Terminator Genisys credit I never once grew bored of it all and that isn’t something I can say about some of the action films that have been around recently. Terminator Genisys is a pretty decent effort that I can’t wait to explore again.
Adam Ross:
You can hear Adam’s full Terminator Genisys review on The Good The Bad The Ugly Film Show Ep #136
Greg King:
You can read Greg’s full Terminator Genisys review on www.filmreviews.net.au
Nick Gardener:
You can hear Nick’s full Terminator Genisys review on The Good The Bad The Ugly Film Show Ep #136
Average Buzz Rating (out of 5):
With comedy-crime-horror Get The Girl about to be released in Australia on DVD/VOD (March 22nd) Dave Griffiths decided to have a chat to the film’s director Eric England. Eric chats to us about what is was like making a film that jumps so many genres and how important it was to find the right leading man.
You can listen to or download our Eric England interview right here.
With new Aussie cult film Musclecar about to premiere at the One Night Of Horror Film Festival Dave G caught up with the film’s director Dwayne Labbe. Dwayne chats to us about where the idea of the film came from and why he cast Jacinta Stapleton as Bambi.
You can listen to or download our Musclecar interview right here.
With brand new comedy series ‘Little Acorns’ now online for people to watch Buzz Magazine’s Dave Griffiths sat down and had a chat with one of the show’s creators Trudy Hellier. Trudy chats to us about where the idea for the series came from and what it is like writing comedy in this brand new politically correct world.
You can listen to or download our Trudy Hellier interview right here.
You can watch the entire first season of the very hilarious ‘Little Acorns’ here.
Rising young Australian star Xavier Samuel moves between independent features from Australia and big budget Hollywood fare such as The Twilight Saga. He is currently starring in Love & Friendship, an amusing adaptation of Jane Austen’s novella Lady Susan, and he has a handful of other projects on the go. Greg caught up with Xavier to chat about the period costume comedy Love & Friendship, which hits cinemas on July 21.
You can listen to our Xavier Samuel interview right here.
Our Kind Of Traitor is the latest John Le Carre spy thriller to hit the screen and as usual it is a more downbeat, moody and cynical take on the business of espionage and international intrigue. It stars Ewan McGregor, Naomie Harris, Damian Lewis and Stellan Skarsgard. The director is Susanna White, and Greg spoke to her to find out more about adapting the novel to the screen.
You can listen to our Susanna White interview right here.
One new horror film that is creating quite a bit of buzz right around the world at the moment is Seve Schelenz’s Peelers. The film has now been selected to open the A Night Of Horror Film Festival in Sydney next week so Buzz Magazine’s Dave Griffiths chatted to Seve about what it has been like to have his film accepted right around the world in this way and what he is looking forward to doing as part of his visit to Sydney.
You can listen to or download our Seve Schelenz interview right here.
You can purchase tickets to the screening of Peelers at A Night Of Horror here.
The 4th Czech and Slovak Film Festival begins screening at ACMI from September 14. This year the festival has the theme of text and texture. There are screenings of classic Czech films in collaboration with Melbourne Cinematheque, short films screening on the big screen at Federation Square, and this year some special screenings as Canberra’s National Film and Sound Archive. Greg spoke to festival director Cerise Howard to find out more about this year’s program.
You can listen to or download our Cerise Howard interview right here.