Geek of Oz

Alright, everyone settle down, John Wick: Chapter 2 is worth the wait. My non spoiler reaction is 🔫🔪💥💀💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💀💀💀💀💀💀💥💀💥💀💥💀💥💥💀💀💥💥💥💀💀💀💀💥💀💥💀💥💥💥💥💥💀💥💥💀💥💀💥💀💥💀💥💀💥🔫💀💀🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫💀💀💀💀💀💥💀💥💀💥💥💥💥💀💀💥💥💀🔪🔪💥💀💀🔪😔😍  7/10. Wanna know more? Feel free to read on, but it will contain spoilers. John Wick: Chapter 2 expands upon the established world of the original film and nicely hints at bigger & badder things to come. As sequels go, it ticks plenty of boxes but falls into a few sophomore pitfalls. In many ways I liken the John Wick franchise to Gareth Evan’s The Raid series; both employ tonnes and tonnes and I dare say tonnes of gratuitous gun-fu/hand-to hand combat, which hey I happen to love, but does tire after a while. With a few niggling gripes that I'll expand upon later, I can happily recommend you get out to catch John Wick: Chapter 2 on the biggest screen available and with the rowd...

Deep Impact tussled with Armageddon , Dante’s Peak schooled Volcano and now its White House Down’s opportunity to go twelve rounds with its own evil doppelganger Olympus Has Fallen. Finally we’ll have the definitive White-House-destroying, Die Hard -imitating, American-Flag-waving film I’ve been searching for these past few years. I don’t shy away from the fact that I hated Olympus has Fallen , in fact I’m tempted to just use this review to kick the film a few more times, but I won’t because that would only drag me down into the gutter where Olympus Has Fallen lives with the other garbage, filth, vile trash and lies… but I digress. White House Down is an entertaining and surprisingly funny action film with solid performances.

Olympus Has Fallen is best described as irresponsible trash. In the spirit of full disclosure I hated this film for a multitude of reasons. As I sit and write this, images are flashing over televisions and websites showing the destruction caused by crudely made bombs in Boston. In a post 9/11 world, terrorism is a real and frightening part of our lives. I clearly remember sitting with my family watching the horror unfold in New York as the Twin Towers came crashing down. It’s imagery that will be forever burned into my mind. So when I go into a film which promises bloodshed and mass destruction revolving around a terrorist act in an urban setting, forgive me if I’m slightly cynical and apprehensive.   

Thérèse Desqueyroux , the latest film from Claude Miller, initially left me feeling irresolute in my opinion of it. I walked away not entirely sure what it was I was feeling. But the further I walked, the more I came to appreciate the subtleties of what it had achieved; my contemplative response to it being chief amongst them. It’s a film that really gets you thinking and stays with you long hours after the credits roll. At first blush, it’s a tale filled with largely self-interested characters that are difficult to sympathise with, but with time it blossoms into a far richer human story. 

Director Mike Newell ( Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ) drags Great Expectations back on to the big screen, resulting in yet another film which would have worked better as a television series. Charles Dickens’s classic tale has been adapted for film and television countless times, the most recent being the 2011 television series starring Ray Winstone and Gillian Anderson, which begs the question: did it needed to be done again so soon? Quite frankly, I don’t think it did. This attempt lacked both originality and ingenuity, serving up stock-standard period piece drama we’ve seen way too many times before. Great Expectations was a bowl of watery consommé when I wanted a hearty stew.

Maybe it’s his own fault … maybe it is Hollywood’s … but somewhere along the way I suspect we’ve all had a hand the in the spectacle that is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career. The moment we let a man in front of a camera because he could lift heavy things, chase ladies and eat baby chickens for breakfast, we were in trouble. Arnold Schwarzenegger is living proof that Hollywood can make a star out of anyone. His latest film, The Last Stand shows that he can still make a schlocky cringe-worthy film. The former Californian Governor plays Sheriff Ray Owens, forced to protect his town from a notorious Mexican Cartel boss, Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), who is on the run after escaping custody.

Anna Karenina, the latest film by Joe Wright, is a visually provocative production which brings new and interesting ideas to the screen, but is ultimately cold and unfulfilling. Based upon the Tolstoy classic, Anna Karenina is set in late 19th-century Russian High society. Anna (Kiera Knightly) who is the loving wife of Karenin (Jude Law) has a torrid affair with a much younger Calvary officer, Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). The affair sends ripples through the upper echelons of the social and political communities of the time.

Director Robert Zemeckis ( Back to the Future, Contact, Polar Express,   Cast Away ) returns to live action films after ten years’ experimentation with motion capture technology. He touches down with Flight , starring Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle and Bruce Greenwood. It’s the story of a pilot who heroically saves a plane from crashing, but then has to face the subsequent investigation into the incident, as well as confront some personal demons. Simply put, this is a film about alcoholism. Denzel Washington plays Whip Whitaker, a veteran pilot and functioning alcoholic, who has spent the best part of his life skilfully masking his addictions. The very first scene of the film really sets the tone for what’s to come. Whip wakes up in the company of a birthday-suited beautiful woman, takes a call from his angry ex-wife, swigs from a corona, smokes a cigarette and does a considerable line of cocaine. They may as well have used a big neon flashing sign that reads: “...

Every man has one. Some think about theirs more than others, some have strange relationships with them and they’re unique to all of us. Obviously I am talking about mothers. The mother and son relationship is placed under the microscope in Anne Fletcher’s ( The Proposal, Step Up ) latest comedy The Guilt Trip . Whilst it’s not the most original setting, The Guilt Trip proves that there will always be a place for excellent screenwriting, rapid fire dialogue and a feel good story. We first meet Andrew Brewster (Seth Rogen) attempting to sell his own environmentally friendly cleaning products to the major retail stores. After a lack lustre sales pitch Andrew embarks on a cross country drive to peddle his wares. In a moment born of filial obligation Andrew invites his mother Joyce (Barbra Streisand) along for the ride.

Celeste and Jesse Forever, the latest film by Lee Toland Krieger, looks at what happens when a married couple separates but attempts to stay best friends. We’ve all had that conversation with an ex-partner at some stage with varying results. Whilst straddling comedy and drama, it’s an interesting perspective on modern relationships and the pressures of life. The film stars Andy Samberg as Jesse and Rashida Jones as Celeste. This is also the writing debut for Jones, who penned the screenplay. The two have a great chemistry on screen. The film continues the recent trend of having a quirky funny male partnered with a glamorous woman (for example Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Break Up or Knocked Up ). Whilst I don’t have a problem with this, I just feel that films can lose a sense of realism if we don’t believe that these people could be an actual couple. The men are allowed to be average looking while the women are required to be super models. In fairness the film took longer than ...

A frustrating thing about being a film fan is watching a promising film succumb to its various flaws, like watching a car crash in slow motion, leaving it battered and bruised and ultimately unsatisfying. Lawless , the latest offering from John Hillcoat, is based upon the historical novel The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant (grandson of the main protagonists), which tells the story of the Bondurant Brothers who ran a Virginia moonshine operation during the 1930s prohibition era. The Bondurant Brothers, thanks to a few lucky escapes due mostly to rum good luck, are believed by the local county to be unkillable and untouchable. They meet their match, however, when Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pierce) is sent from Chicago to stop the flow of moonshine. A great narrative premise, and whilst brimming with potential, Lawless could not overcome its awful screenplay and chaotic editing issues. John Hillcoat is a competent director who has the critically acclaimed The Pro...

It is finally here! To all of those people who have been asking when the inaugural episode of "Beardy and the Geek" will be up, the answer is now. That said, you should already know this because the only people who asked this question were in my head. Jump on board for a snappy 23 minute chat with the incredibly well read and equally talented Emmet O'Cuana  (Beardy) and the perfectly adequate me (Geek) as we chat about the Australian comic book industry and Australian creators. Stay tuned for more reviews, more recommendations and a whole swag of interviews with some great people in the comic book biz. Check out the podcast after the jump!

Dependant on popular demand I'm going to use this space to explain how I became the massively geeky chap that I am today. If the folks at home want to hear it, hear it they shall. This is the story of how I became the geek that I am today.