Nick Milligan's Blog, page 2

Dana Ashbrook: interview

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The return of cult phenomenon Twins Peaks for a third season last year was one of the great triumphs of popular culture. After 25 years, you could be forgiven for thinking creators David Lynch and Mark Frost would never finish what they started. Their possible return was the great geek pipe dream. The unicorn of Lynch-dom. A monumental “what-coulda-been”.

The twists and turns that led to the rapid rise of Twin Peaks in the early ‘90s – and then to it’s stunning burnout after two seasons – stand as one of the great examples of creative interference and the pitfalls of network pressure. So in 2014 when Lynch and Frost did announce their return to the mesmerising murk and mystery of their troubled and sleepy Washington town, suddenly one of the great wrongs of storytelling was to be righted.

Fans received 18 new searing hours of Twin Peaks, all directed by Lynch and co-written by Lynch and Frost. It was the stuff of which dreams were made. It was Twin Peaks as nature intended.

Most of the original cast returned. Amongst them was Dana Ashbrook who portrayed bad boy Bobby Briggs in the first two seasons. When we met Bobby in the ‘90s, he was a schemer of the highest order. Drugs. Murder. You name it and Bobby was up to his neck in it. And with him being the former boyfriend of slain teen Laura Palmer, he was also a suspect in the investigation of her death.

But a quarter of a century later, when we arrive at season three, things are different. Bobby’s changed his ways and become a cop at Twin Peaks Sherriff’s Department. He’s also had a daughter, Becky (Amanda Seyfried), with old flame Shelly Johnson. Bobby and Shelly are now divorced, but they’re amicably raising their child.

Ashbrook is one of the cast members heading to Australia this September for a live Q&A alongside Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer), Kimmy Robertson (Lucy Moran), Michael Horse (Deputy Hawk), Al Strobel (Phillip Gerard) and Sabrina S. Sutherland (executive producer).

Here Ashbrook talks to Nick Milligan about returning to the phenomenon of Twin Peaks, playing the good guy, and what it’s like to work with the great David Lynch.

Hey Dana, it’s great news that some Twin Peaks stars are heading our way. Will this be your first visit to Australia?

No, I was over there in the mid-90s – I was in Brisbane. I shot a TV movie at the Village Roadshow studios (1993’s Desperate Journey: The Allison Wilcox Story). We were on sailboats and we got caught in a storm, then we were shipwrecked for two weeks in a life raft and then we got rescued. We shot in giant dump tanks of water to shoot the boat sinking. It was the perfect place to shoot it. And I learned to sail in Australia. It was awesome.

Twin Peaks quickly became a cultural phenomenon when it first aired in 1990. But its fan base never really diminished in the ensuing decades, right up until last year’s Twin Peaks: The Return. Were you surprised by how much the fans’ obsession endured?

There’s a very dedicated fan base to the show. I think it all got ramped up a bit when it came back. It was resting nicely and a well-respected thing – and I never thought it would come back. Then, when it came back, the fact that it was David and Mark writing everything, and doing everything, it was like a home run. It wasn’t somebody else trying to do it. It was the actual guys. I was just shocked. I was completely shocked. I really never thought it in a million years [that it would return].

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With the show ending the way it did, after two seasons and on such a cliffhanger, was there a feeling amongst the creators and cast that there was unfinished business?

Well David and Mark had the stories in their head. I just kinda go off what they do – if they say there’s more, I say let’s go explore it. I’m just glad it was them.

There was, of course, a time when David and Mark walked away from The Return, which resulted in a backlash from fans. Would any of the cast have continued in the project without them, or were you locked in by then?

We definitely weren’t locked in. It was Easter Sunday [2015] when I found out that David was going to walk away from the deal because they just weren’t offering enough money to get the job done. He wasn’t trying to line his pockets, he just needed the money to make the show that he wanted to do. I think he had to play some hard ball in the negotiations. When he did that I was like, “Holy shit! That took a lot of balls.” There was a lot of anticipation before that happened, so it was pretty scary and a bit of a bummer, but the cast all got together – and Mädchen [Amick, who plays Shelly Johnson] led the charge – we put together a little video saying Twin Peaks without David is not Twin Peaks. I can’t imagine that anyone [in the cast] would have wanted to do it without David. That’s all negotiating tactics.

When we meet Bobby in the third season, he’s done a 180 in his life and become a cop. When did you find out that he was no longer going to be the bad boy of Twin Peaks? Was it when you received the script?

I didn’t know until I got the pages. As soon as I got the pages, I got on the phone to everybody who had gotten their pages. I called Mädchen and I was like, “Did you read our great scene?! Oh my god!” It was completely a surprise. My friends and I, over the months, had joked around and speculated, but we never even came up with him being a local cop. Honestly. I don’t think anyone ever mentioned that.

But I think it fit. It worked out. Because there was that great scene in the original show between me and my father [Major Garland Briggs, played by Don S. Davis], where he tells me about this dream where he sees me and everything in my life has worked out, and he’s not worried about where I’m going to end up. But I think people still thought, “He’s a cop, but he’s going to be a bad cop.” I think it worked out the way it was meant to.

You’ve got some of the best scenes in The Return. In terms of backstory, did Mark and David give you many details of Bobby’s life that perhaps we didn’t receive in the screenplay?

Uh-uh, not at all, man. It’s like this thing – as an actor you’re playing a child’s game. When you’re a kid and someone says, “Hey, let’s play King and Queen! You guys are the King and Queen of this land!” Kids don’t ask for a lot of details like, “But how did I become King? Did I unseat my brother or my uncle?” They don’t get into all that stuff. They just play the King. It’s a child’s game, you know what I mean? I read what I read, and I glean what I glean, about the character from what [Mark and David] have written, and then it’s just on the page. It’s like trying to fit the puzzle together. It’s already written for us. You just trust them so much with the writing, and David’s directing, that you just do it. I don’t have to torment myself trying to figure out how Bobby became a cop because it’s already my reality.

The homework I have to do is to make my daughter important to me. That’s a new thing. I have to make sure that she’s important to me inside. So when we have a scene and she’s telling me these things, it’s not just some shallow bullshit. In that case I do my own work, I don’t have to ask them about my relationship with my daughter. I just imagine it. It’s all in my own imagination. I just make her important to me, so when I get to the set and I see Amanda and go, “Oh my god, I love this kid, I’ll do anything for her.” That’s where I come from as an actor. There’s so many better actors than me and I’m sure they do a helluva lot more, but I keep it pretty basic.

The first time we see you in The Return is an amazing moment, because you walk into the room and are confronted by a photo of Laura Palmer. You become very emotional. Where do you go as an actor to achieve that? Did you go right back to the first seasons to find that emotion?

Yeah, it’s a little of that, for sure. It’s just imagining her and our good times. Bobby and Laura did have good times, even though there were all sorts of other shit going on. So when that [moment] comes it has an impact on me. And it’s written right there in the script. “Bobby sees picture of Laura on the table and he cries.” So I just have to do whatever I have to do to make that real. And, you know, it wasn’t super hard. It was such a comfortable set and the people love me and I love them so much, that it’s very, very nurturing and respectful when you have to do a scene like that. It’s also a great laugh most of the time, but with something like that, man – and the scene where we find out about The Log Lady dying [actress Catherine E. Coulson died in September, 2015], that was not in the script. That was written after and that was something that was pretty personal and pretty intense. There was a lot of real shit going on there. Everybody loved her and it was such a beautiful thing that David did. [Catherine] was too weak to come to set, so they went to her. I broke out crying when I heard that. I knew she was sick, so I didn’t know she was going to be able to do it. And she was so excited about doing it months before, and then it took so god damn long [to get to production]. And then just hearing on the set that David set it up so they could shoot it and direct her over Skype or whatever it was – I heard it about it second-hand – that just made me cry so hard. I was like, “Oh my god…” There was some real stuff that happened, you know? And she was one of David’s oldest friends.

The scene in which Margaret Lanterman (The Log Lady) is saying goodbye to Hawk is gut-wrenching, even for people that didn’t know her.

Yeah, it reminds me a little bit of David Bowie’s last album, Black Star. It’s his goodbye, he’s telling you everything on that album. He’s saying what’s up. It was a lot like that. It was crazy. It was a crazy time, man.

There’s another great Bobby moment with Shelly and Becky in the diner, where Bobby bristles at the suggestion that Becky’s husband Steven might be violent towards her. Some of that old Bobby rage bubbles to the surface. Was that a fun scene to play?

Yeah, that whole scene… I mean. I’m working with Amanda, who is a fucking great actress. Straight-out great actress. And Mädchen, who’s everything to me. She’s so good and so professional and so beautiful – just an incredible person. Honestly. I mean, honestly. I just didn’t want to fuck up. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t mess anybody else up. It was amazing. That scene was one of the highlights.

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After working with David again following a 25-year gap, could you notice anything different about his approach? Or was he just the same old David?

Same David. It’s weird because when we did the original series, it was the period of his life where he quit smoking. He wasn’t smoking cigarettes. And now he smokes again and so that was different. But other than that, it was all pretty much the same, man.

Working with him is so much fun. He does that transcendental meditation, and that’s a beautiful thing. He lends all sorts of peace and harmony out there.

You’ve worked with a number of directors in television and film. How does David compare? Is his approach as different as his work might suggest?

Oh yeah. He’s a unique person. He’s an artist. Full of life and interesting things. Such a complex person. And such an artist. I’ve done a lot of television and everybody I’ve worked with wants to do a good job and they work hard and whatever. But some people are in it for different reasons. Other people fall into it – I don’t even know why some people want to do it. Sometimes it feels like you’re just pounding out some weird product that doesn’t take any sort of artistic care. When you’re a director on a television series, you don’t even have that much artistic say – you’re going with that the show’s vibe is. Those poor guys are just turning out stuff.

I haven’t worked with a lot of the great feature directors, except David. He’s one of my top five directors in the world. But as far as comparing him to other masters, I haven’t really had my chance. But I’ve worked with some really great guys who hopefully some day will get up to that level. You never know. I love working with young people. There’s a never-ending supply of young [filmmakers] coming out of the hallways.

Having worked on the third season and been a part of the production, could you speculate as to whether it will be our last time in Twin Peaks? Might we see more episodes or perhaps even a movie? Something?

Well, you know I would have always said “no way”, but you never know. I think another series would be a lot. It took David a long time to do this one and I don’t know if he’d have enough for 18 more [episodes], it’s just so much work. But maybe a movie? I could see a little movie or something, who knows? Maybe it will be a new format that we don’t even know exists yet. Maybe they’ll do something weird. I’m never going to say never, and I’m always up for it. So that’s where I stand on it.

Twin Peaks – Conversation with the Stars is on September 1, 2018 at the Darling Harbour Theatre (in the ICC Sydney). Tickets, including meet and greet VIP packages, are available now through Ticketek.

Grant-Lee Phillips: review

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GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS

The Wickham Park Hotel

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Review By Nick Milligan

Images by Craig Wilson

If you’re not careful, a special show might fly under your radar, lost in the insistent static hum of the world wide web. One must be awake at their post, vigilant, watching and listening for that sharp blip as it moves across your screen.

The Newcastle visit of ‘90s indie-rock hero Grant-Lee Phillips is one such flying object. Thankfully, it has not gone entirely unnoticed. A strong crowd of underground purists has crammed into the front bar of The Wickham Park Hotel for an evening with the gifted singer-songwriter. Formerly the vocalist of band Grant Lee Buffalo, whose four records featured reverb-drenched, shimmering anthems anchored by earthy vocals, tonight’s main act holds court with an acoustic guitar, a genial presence and the air of a master craftsman.

Phillips has a vast songbook to draw from, but this Newcastle visit is in aid of his ninth solo studio record, Widdershins. The songwriter gives his latest release its due attention, commencing with its opening track ‘Walk in Circles’, and then rolls through the lament on social disparity, ‘Miss Betsy’, and asserts that humans have a long way to go in ‘The Wilderness’.

The setlist then visits his 2016’s The Narrows, with the smoky ‘Cry Cry’ and ‘San Andreas Fault’, the latter an ode to the fault line that one day might swallow his native home of California.

Phillips then acknowledges that some punters may have discovered him as the town troubadour in the hit series Gilmore Girls, where his music punctuates its seasons, often in key moments. These days his hair’s shaggier and he’s lost the thick-rimmed glasses. But there’s no mistaking him. One pivotal scene of the comedy drama features his song ‘Mona Lisa’, which he now performs for the attentive crowd.

Phillips’ kinetic strumming gives his songs a rolling, propulsive quality, especially on the brilliant ‘Wish I Knew’ from his 2003 record Virginia Creeper. His deep vocal tones still recall the legends of Americana music, the outlaws who wielded the guitar like an extension of their body. But there’s tenderness too, evident on his haunting cover of The Church’s ‘Under the Milky Way’.

Brimming with anecdotes and wry humour, Phillips throws the set open to requests from the crowd, which reaps a stripped-down version of the thundering Buffalo classic ‘Lone Star Song’. Support act Matt Joe Gow then joins Phillips for two duets, the foreboding Buffalo tune ‘Come to Mama, She Say’, and a deep solo-career cut in ‘Calamity Jane’.

Phillips closes his transfixing performance with ‘Fuzzy’, Grant Lee Buffalo’s biggest hit, and the crowd sings along to the drifting, dreamy falsetto of its memorable chorus.

The show has been absorbing and consummate from beginning to end and one can’t help but feel great pity for the innumerable Novocastrians who’ve allowed this evening to pass them by. Hopefully the adoration from tonight’s hardcore fans encourages Phillips to return. Keep your eyes on the radar.

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Top 20 albums of 2017

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It can be argued that 2016 was one of the better years of music we’ve had in the past decade, but the following 12 months sure gave it a run for its money. Picking a list of only 20 records has been tough. I’d liken it to that fateful decision by Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice – only this has been far more traumatising.

It’s worth noting that this year was again topped by an Aussie act, who took a giant leap forward in their sound. Holy Holy’s Paint is a wondrous listen and bodes very well for record number three. Its finale, ‘Send My Regards’, is the year’s best song, followed very closely by Big Thief’s ‘Mythological Beauty’.

There’s some gems that just missed out on this list, but such was the strength of the music released in 2017. Here’s the top 20.

 

[image error]20. METHYL ETHEL

Everything is Forgotten

Perth trio Methyl Ethel, the evolution of a bedroom project by vocalist Jake Webb, seem to exist in their own weird corner of the universe – a dwarf star of shimmering disco and pop. Everything is Forgotten is the sound of an alien that has had the principles of pop music explained to them in great detail, but has never actually heard it. The resulting  sound is both arresting and otherworldly, delivered in an eerie fashion that continually subverts the catchiness of the songwriting. ‘Ubu’ is an obvious hit, with its danceable groove and earworm hook, but is in stark contrast to slinking slow-burners like ‘Act of Contrition’ and ‘Groundswell’. Webb’s preternatural falsetto, the voice of some cosmic entity, elevates Everything is Forgotten above the never-ending indie-pop onslaught of their contemporaries.

[image error]19. CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG

Rest

Actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg bestowed her fifth studio record upon us in November – her first in six years – and again brought together an impressive team of collaborators. Sought-after French electronic producer SebastiAn crafts a sleek, sexy, night-time ambience for Gainsbourg’s whispers (in both English and French) to inhabit, imbuing the mood with distinct creeping melancholy. Even in its more pop-heavy flourishes, the melodies only serve to subvert the pain of Gainsbourg’s lyrics. The singer cuts to the bone, ruminating on the death of father Serge and the more recent passing of half-sister Kate Barry. Other artists to lend their creative expertise are Sir Paul McCartney on the upbeat ‘Songbird in a Cage’, Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton on ‘Lying With You’, Connan Mockasin on ‘Dan Vos Airs’ and ‘Les Crocadiles’, and Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo on the title track. ‘Syliva Says’ (which pays homage to Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Mad Girl’s Love Song’) and ‘Deadly Valentine’ are two of the stand-out anthems, those brief moments when light bounces from the mirror ball.

[image error]18. MEW

Visuals

It’s nice that the best band in the world (you read correctly) are dropping records with increased frequency. Danish prog-rock band Mew made us wait six years for +-, the follow-up to their 2009 masterpiece No More Stories…. Now we have another record, Visuals, two years later. As a collection of tracks this latest offering might not have the consistently dark splendour of 2005’s And the Glass Handed Kites, or the spellbinding pop mastery of No More Stories…, but as a showcase of their mind-bending, innovative talents, it places them head and shoulders above their peers. Opener ‘Nothingness and No Regrets’ hints at the glacial pop prettiness of their early Frengers material, but there’s a level of complexity – and a broader sonic colour palette – that demonstrates Mew are true musical seekers, ever searching and reaching for kinetic new terrain. With thundering drums, Jonas Bjerre’s otherworldly falsetto and unexpected sideways turns, Visuals is sumptuous listening – and it keeps you guessing.

[image error]17. KIM CHURCHILL

Weight_Falls

After the breakthrough success of his 2014 record Silence/Win, Kim Churchill went on an arduous journey to take the next creative step in his career. After scrapping an entire record of songs and starting afresh, the Hunter Valley resident travelled the world, meeting and working with other songwriters. This only served to enhance the sense of wanderlust that permeates his music. Weight_Falls sounds like Paul Simon’s sweeter folk sojourns have been dismantled, rebuilt and reimagined by the brain of a modern musical perfectionist. Brimming with radio-ready hooks, the record displays immense attention to detail and is never conventional, despite the pop catchiness throughout. Much radio airtime has been given to second single ‘Secondhand Car’, which will surely claim Churchill his second entry in the Triple J Hottest 100, but ‘Breakneck Speed’ is superior – and so infectious that it might be the year’s sonic equivalent of the ebola virus. Outside of those pop joyrides, Churchill is reflective and immersed in his gentle and deft guitar work – look no further than the dreamy malaise of the gorgeous title track. Having mastered the immediacy of pop writing, it will be interesting to see where the talented musician ventures next.

[image error]16. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

Villains

Rusted-on Queens of the Stone Age fans could have been forgiven for experiencing a heady pang of trepidation at the news that Mark Ronson – the pop recycler of modern music – would be producing the band’s new record. But even Ronson’s penchant for hyper sheen couldn’t overshadow or erode the full-blooded, shoot-from-the-hip grooves of QOTSA singer and songwriter Josh Homme (who recently became a villain in the media). It’s not their grittiest or darkest record, a direction perhaps impossible with Ronson at the helm, but from funky opening stomper ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me’ it’s evident that Villains is the formidable rock band at both their most virile and palatable. ‘The Way You Used To Do’ is another QOTSA single that’ll make you want to get undressed. The epic highlight, ‘The Evil Has Landed’, harks back to a Led Zeppelin brand of arena-sized blues rock. Tasty.

[image error]15. THE WAR ON DRUGS

A Deeper Understanding

Adam Granduciel’s musical project may be named after a wholly futile pursuit, but there’s nothing pointless about his transcendental rock band. Expansive and ethereal, like Bob Dylan on an MDMA carpet ride, A Deeper Understanding draws its listeners into a sprawling, shimmering dreamspace to float amongst languid echoed arrangements and anthemic instrumentation. This radiant record is sustenance for the soul, designed to enrapture and uplift. It does both.

[image error]14. REAL ESTATE

In Mind

Singer-songwriter Martin Courtney has successfully opened a new chapter for his New Jersey dream-pop band, following the departure of founding member and guitarist Matt Mondanile. New guitarist and permanent member Julian Lynch proves a sterling addition to this, their fourth record – it’s perhaps their best. They owe much to the Byrd’s warm jangle and Teenage Fanclub’s soft, painfully gorgeous fare (especially the Man-Made era). From the psychedelic repetitive trip of ‘Two Arrows’, to the echoed, trickling gentleness of ‘After the Moon’, and the cavity inducing sweetness of single ‘Darling’, this melancholy record is truly a thing of wistful beauty.

[image error]13. IRON & WINE

Beast Epic

After his recent, occasionally mind-bending excursions, singer-songwriter Sam Beam aka Iron & Wine, returns to his roots on Beast Epic. As the title doesn’t suggest, the songwriter recaptures the majestic simplicity of his more dazzling folk-inspired work. It might not be as flawless as 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog, but 10 years later it’s evident that Beam’s knack for timeless songwriting has not diminished. Age is only bringing further grace to his music. Beam’s always been an old musical soul, with a strong sense of classic romanticism, and there’s a weathered sweetness to gems like ‘Last Night’ that makes his music something to which you want to return, time and time again.

[image error]12. BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE

Hug of Thunder

Broken Social Scene have long been the nucleus of Canadian indie-pop, splintering off in various directions before reconvening to combine their exceptional talents. After seven years away, the core members, including vocalists Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, decided to get the band back together. They sent out a message to the usual suspects and the response was overwhelming –  there’s 18 musicians credited on Hug of Thunder. As the title suggests, BSS’s return is a warm, tightly wound embrace – an old friend giving you a big ol’ squeeze. The album is a dynamic and diverse indie rock excursion buoyed by gorgeous harmonies, grooves and up-tempo arrangements. Drew’s dreamy road song ‘Skyline’ is a highlight on an album of gems, as is the Leslie Feist-sung title track. The record twists and turns and keeps you on your toes without ever jarring. A most welcome return.

[image error]11. RYAN ADAMS

Prisoner

It’s fair to assume that Ryan Adams could sing the phone book and make it sound like a sublime country rock classic. On 16th studio record Prisoner, the revered songwriter continues the big Springsteen-esque rock of his previous self-titled outing. But this time he’s wrestling with a lot of personal shit following his divorce from Mandy Moore. As the cliche states, a broken heart makes for the best songwriting and Prisoner does nothing to diminish that assertion. Opening with the bombast and unmistakable sentiment of ‘Do You Still Love Me?’, Adams has crafted another collection that unfolds with repeated listens. He’s never been so personal. He’s never been so direct.

[image error]10. PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS

High Visceral, Pt. 2

Surely on the brink of nationwide stardom, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets delivered the second part of 2016’s High Visceral, Pt. 1 and one of the year’s purest rock records. A pot-smoked hybrid of ’70s prog-rock and fuzzy psych, the Crumpets might not be reinventing the wheel but 60 seconds into opener ‘Nek’ and you know this is a record you won’t be turning off any time soon. The Perth four-piece has heavy grooves and blistering riffage pumping through their veins. Fans of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, … And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and The Sword should be all over this like a rash.

[image error]09. BATPISS

Rest in Piss

From the unhinged opening instrumental ‘Black Paint’, with its merry beat and stabs of guitar, Rest in Piss maintains a demented atmosphere. Falling under the “sludge punk” tag (though there’s plenty of garage influences), the Melbourne three-piece use a simple formula – primal rhythms and the axe dialled to 11. But amongst the aural chaos there’s plenty of dynamics and sonic variation. Take the blistering ‘Paralyzed’ versus the chaotic gear-changes of ‘Rui’s Lament’, the latter a tune that would fit somewhere amongst The Drones or The Peep Tempel’s catalogues. But while Batpiss have all the energy of those two contemporaries, and sound every bit as Australian, there’s a masterful use of noise to shape a consistent, textured and unsettling milieu for the songs’ array of characters to inhabit.

[image error]08. BOO SEEKA

Never Too Soon

After an impressive five singles, each of them garnering deserved love on Triple J, there was little left for Boo Seeka to do but release a debut record. In 2017 they delivered on that promise and dropped one of the year’s most sensuous outings. Dreamy and beguilding, Never Too Soon is a collection of custom-made pop hits that’s too irresistibly melodic to ignore. Ben Gumbleton (or “Boo”), following on from his impressive yet largely overlooked work with Benjalu, has found a perfect foil in Sammy Seeka, whose rhythmic textures serve the singer’s earthy and distinctive tones. They’re a formidable duo.

[image error]07. BEN SALTER

Back Yourself

Given his prolific and impressive output, it’s safe to say that Ben Salter backs himself. And thank god he does. Back Yourself is the now 40-year-old singer-songwriter’s finest work, effortlessly changing gears whilst seamlessly hanging together. There’s maybe some Pink Floyd hovering in spacey ‘The First Sign of Madness’ or some Jeff Lynne pop fuzz in the rallying title track, but there’s really no one that sounds like Salter (also a member of The Gin Club and Wilson Pickers). Tracks take left turns, always compelling, always rewarding. Vocally diverse, Salter employs his rich timbre on the acoustic opener ‘Where Corals Lie’ and completely stops you in your tracks on the noir-ish, saxophone laced ‘I Need You’. With a raconteur’s tongue and a philosopher’s eye, Salter’s command of his craft reaps compelling rewards.

[image error]06. LAWRENCE GREENWOOD

P.S. I’m Haunted

One of Australia’s most enigmatic and talented songwriters returned in 2017 with his fourth record, the first under his birth name and not the moniker “Whitley”. Ten years on from the debut record that made him a Triple J darling, Lawrence Greenwood continues to shun past commercial glories. Instead he doggedly pursues his craft in its purest form. P.S. I’m Haunted is very much as its title suggests: the slow-burning and deeply personal musings of a sensitive and deep-thinking soul, both outwardly observant of the world around him and agonisingly self-aware. The half-awake arrangements echo of psychedelic drug-influenced predecessor Even the Stars Are a Mess, but here are drawn out into restless piano-led processions that are at once mournful, starkly devastating and cathartic. The record’s centrepiece, ‘Lonesome George’, is Greenwood’s greatest musical triumph, a 9-plus-minute wrenching journey in which the songwriter wrestles with regret and loss. The title references the famous Pinta Island turtle of the same name, which was the very last of its species: a creature symbolic of loneliness who, remarkably, was found murdered in its Galápagos National Park enclosure in 2012. It’s the kind of sombre, existential reference that continues to give nuance to Greenwood’s work.

[image error]05. FLEET FOXES

Crack-Up

It was a six-year wait for Fleet Foxes’ third studio record, but the Seattle five-piece paid our patience in kind. Crack-Up is darker and more complex than their earlier work, innovative within the context of their own oeuvre, yet unmistakably them. Singer and songwriter Robin Pecknold has deconstructed their sound and shaped it into something new – a rebirth. The resemblance – the DNA – is there, but all is draped in sombre shadow. In brief moments Pecknold’s voice drops to a deep, almost spoken murmur, before a sunbeam of those trademark harmonies cuts through the grey skies overhead. Few folk bands in modern music are as evocative as Fleet Foxes (especially since Midlake journeyed into psych-rock) and Crack-Up certainly takes their sound into breathtaking territories.

[image error]04. KENDRICK LAMAR

Damn.

On ‘FEAR.’, the 13th track of Kendrick Lamar’s most recent opus, the rapid-fire wordsmith muses: “Within fourteen tracks, carried out over wax, wonderin’ if I’m livin’ through fear or livin’ through rap.” It’s an eloquent summation of the creative tension at the centre of Lamar’s work – how wealth and fame will alter him. But his concerns aren’t as simplistic as keeping a level head in the face of superstardom. His razor-sharp poetry is drenched in the history of black America and attuned to its current plight. As literary and perceptive as all this might sound, Lamar’s more at ease on Damn. and drifts into dreamy romanticism on ‘LOVE.’. But elsewhere, Lamar is still looking inward – and there’s plenty of fire in the belly.

[image error]03. BIG THIEF

Capacity

Unbearably intimate, soulful, haunting, life-affirming: once Big Thief’s second record casts its spell over you, such superlatives fall short of the mark. With the fragile, whispered vocals of Adrianne Lenker as its central thread, the sophomore release by the Brooklyn quartet unfolds and seduces with each listen. Lenker’s poetry is direct, deeply personal and visceral but, in stark contrast, the sweetness of her stinging vocals subverts the weight of them. Her fragile voice gives the words uplift, sending them weightless and spiralling through the air, as evidenced in the record’s centrepiece ‘Mythological Beauty’. Her exploration of family history is reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens’ masterpiece Carrie & Lowell, and Lenker indeed lays her life bare – former lovers, her mother, brother, accounts of assault are all brought into vivid colour. Opener, ‘Pretty Things’, might echo of Leonard Cohen, but Lenker is otherwise a distinctly original voice. Served by minimal, considered lo-fi folk instrumentation, the album’s use of aural space gives the stories a palpable dramatic clarity. Fascinating, too, is the image on Capacity‘s cover, a picture of Lenker as a baby, nursed by her uncle who bares an uncanny resemblance to the singer – as if she’s nursing herself. Perhaps an eerie metaphor.

[image error]02. MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA

A Black Mile to the Surface

Since their 2009 breakout record Mean Everything to Nothing, Manchester Orchestra have slipped into the background here in Australia. They’ve continued to release anthemic and emotionally wrought rock music, led by their singer and principle songwriter Andy Hull, and have continued to evolve their sound. And it feels like previous work and past glories have been building to this. A Black Mile to the Surface is their crowning achievement. The album runs the full gamut of human emotion. ‘The Gold’ is the story of a miner, providing for his family but slowly dying from his chosen occupation. Other stories, set in small towns, document the procession of time, the cycle of life and death – all influenced by how first-time fatherhood has shaped Hull. The lyricist’s imagery is as vivid as ever, an exercise in self-examination and character studies. Whether exploding with thundering arrangements, or falling into the intimacy of ‘The Alien’ or ‘The Sunshine’, Manchester Orchestra take the listener on a joyous rollercoaster. Each song flows into the next without a breath taken, adding to the impact of this immersive experience.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

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01. HOLY HOLY

Paint

The creative pairing of Timothy Carroll and Oscar Dawson yielded an impressive debut record in 2015, but it lacked cohesion – an array of influences all fighting to be heard. But one thing was clear – the pair liked big arrangements and classic melodies. The best track from When the Storms Cloud Would Come was ‘You Cannot Call For Love Like a Dog’ – a scintillating piece of rock music. That track was an road sign of what was to come. Holy Holy’s follow-up, Paint, is a different beast compared to the previous outing – an inventive, colourful, irresistible songbook that’s head and shoulders above every other record released in the past 12 months. It’s heavier on synths and void of skippable tracks – a real masterclass in pop songwriting. Carroll pushes himself vocally and Dawson, perhaps one of Australia’s most tasteful rock guitarists, takes a big step into the spotlight – his stunning riffs, lead breaks and harmonised parts all loom large in Paint‘s deft brushstrokes.

By Nick Milligan

 

Top 20 movies of 2017

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It’s fair to say that 2017 was a return to form for cinema – a purple patch in a decade that’s so far proven tough going for cinephiles. You didn’t have to look as far this year for a quality offering in a range of genres: Nolan’s war flick Dunkirk, the horror fun of The Void and Get Out, the Apatow rom-com The Big Sick, and the big budget experiment mother!.

Even some tent-pole instalments of major franchises delivered – Logan proved the best Marvel-related movie released-to-date and Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the best-written and genuinely meaningful offering to the canon since The Empire Strikes Back. The new Blade Runner sadly didn’t deliver, but it didn’t matter – 2017 was encrusted with gems. Here’s the top 20 movies for 2017.

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20. DUNKIRK

Director: Christopher Nolan

Release date: July 20, 2017

Best described as the Waiting for Godot of Second World War conflicts, the evacuation of allied troops from the harbour and beaches of Dunkirk might have made a dreary film. “Men waiting impatiently” and “fish in a barrel” aren’t the sexiest of pitches. But in the hands of master film maker Christopher Nolan, the tension of this famous historical moment is palpable as hell. With barely a single drop of blood shown on screen, Nolan divides the film’s perspective into land, sea and air, which allows kinetic pacing. He also plays with time jumps, which proves something of an overly clever Nolan-esque distraction, but for the most part the British filmmaker deals in restraint and gets back to what he’s best at – jaw-dropping, widescreen storytelling. Dunkirk is a spectacle for the theatre, and such a visit is rewarded with a gripping and often breathtaking experience.

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19. GHOST IN THE SHELL

Director: Rupert Sanders

Release date: March 30, 2017

In a year of many big budget sci-fi spectacles, Ghost in the Shell was something of a surprise packet. Despite dumbing down its iconic source material for mainstream audiences, Rupert Sanders’ live action adaptation of the anime original proved to be a more effective and enjoyable outing than the year’s other large-scale sci-fi retread Blade Runner 2049. Where Denis Villeneuve’s movie was visually spectacular, two of its principal characters – namely Ryan Gosling’s hero and Jared Leto’s villain – failed to locate any emotional depth or nuance in the screenplay, thus rendering the overly long movie a hollow experience. Ghost in the Shell, on the other hand, is served by a steely performance from Scarlett Johansson. The seasoned actress elevates the material into something compelling. Neither of the two movies take the android sub-genre anywhere we haven’t been before, but Ghost in the Shell is visually rich, stylish and, at 106 minutes, doesn’t outlive its welcome.

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18. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Director: Bill Condon

Release date: March 23, 2017

The theatre goes dark as I’m calculating exactly how many boyfriend brownie points my attendance will tally. Drawing on the Twilight saga as precedent, I’m confident there’s a guilt-free weekend away with the lads in my near future. And yet, as the rather exquisite Emma Watson twirls through her little town and laments her provincial life in Beauty and the Beast‘s whimsical opening number, I find myself swept away in the pure cinematic revelry of it all. My quiet indignation subsides. Memories of the 1991 Disney animated film come rushing back and I’m a child again.

Bill Condon’s live action adaptation of that classic movie is a romantic vortex of pure escapism. I was the first to groan at the news that Disney would roll out live-action remakes of all their most popular animated movies, but this and The Jungle Book are truly superb. This Beast remake racked up an impressive $1.264 billion dollars at the global box office. One can only imagine that the impending live action reimagination of The Lion King will double said figure.

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17. THE VOID

Directors: Steven Kostanksi and Jeremy Gillespie

Release date: August 4, 2017

If you’re a gore buff that’s concerned practical effects have gone the way of the dinosaur, then The Void will kill your craving. Harking back to the dark gothic body horror of Clive Barker and John Carpenter, this bloody Canadian romp pits a rag-tag group of people trapped in a remote hospital against a horde of white-robed, dagger-wielding cultists. The evil cult surrounds the building and escape looks unlikely. But is the evil trying to get in – or trying to get out? Directors Steven Kostanksi and Jeremy Gillespie walk a fine line, not taking the narrative too seriously, but genre fans will respond to this piece of classicism. A passion for blood-soaked horror is evident in every frame.

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16. WIND RIVER

Director: Taylor Sheridan

Release date: August 10, 2017

Building upon his impressive screenwriting efforts with Hell of High Water and Sicario, actor Taylor Sheridan makes a sterling directorial debut with Wind River. His stories are heavy dramas set on a frontier, both physical and emotional, and in this case is a cold and desolate Indian reservation in Wyoming. When the bloodied body of a young woman is found in the snow, expert tracker and US Fish and Wildlife Services agent Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) reluctantly teams up with rookie FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) to find her killer. They journey through the underbelly of this unforgiving town, thundering towards a particularly dark resolution. Sheridan seems fascinated with malignant male behaviour, and it certainly rears its ugly head throughout this full-blooded, atmospheric thriller.

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15. THE BAD BATCH

Director: Ana Lily Armipour

Release date: July 21, 2017

British filmmaker Ana Lily Armipour describes her second feature film best: “a post-apocalyptic cannibal love story set in a Texas wasteland”. That neatly sums up this visceral, bloody, hyper-stylish, neon-tinged journey into a nihilistic future. Armipour comes from the Nicolas Winding Refn and Jim Jarmusch school of ultra-cool, where creating a distinct visual language is as important as the dialogue. This gives The Bad Batch the strange duality of being both very bleak and aesthetically arresting, as if this nightmare future is filtered through the pages of Vogue. It’s an impressive second outing from Armipour, who proves herself a major talent.

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14. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Release date: December 26, 2017

Mainstream cinema, while having come a long way in its willingness to depict homosexuality, continues to lock its gay characters in a holding pattern of victim narratives. While the good intentions of some filmmakers can’t be denied, their depiction of the LGBTQI experience often revels in the oppression, illness and death of its gay characters. Which is why Call Me By Your Name was such a refreshing experience, instead revelling in the pornographic qualities of the European lifestyle, depicting a dazzling and decadent coming-of-age love story that just happens to be gay. A big step forward for mainstream American cinema – post-modern in its exploration of homosexuality and ravishing in its depiction of burgeoning desire.

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13. THE BIG SICK

Director: Michael Showalter

Release date: August 3, 2018

Typical of the type of comedy behind which Judd Apatow throws his weight, The Big Sick balances its more obvious Hollywood laughs with incisive observations about modern relationships. Written by real-life couple Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, and based on the very real scenario in which Gordon endured a coma, the film is carried by its superb performances. Nanjiani’s central autobiographical character is flawed and endearing, Gordon’s avatar Zoe Kazan, who spends much of the film in said coma, is equally believable during her screen time, and Holly Hunter and Ray Romano have never been better as the suffering parents. The Big Sick is a romantic comedy with many pointed truths about fidelity, racism in modern America and culture.

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12. INGRID GOES WEST

Director: Matt Spicer

Release date: October 26, 2017

While it may be delivered with the biting panache of a very woke black comedy, Ingrid Goes West is the year’s scariest horror movie. There’s no gore, no murder – just a stark summation of what our modern society values in 2017. It’s bracingly accurate, and therefore the most unsettling film experience of the year. Aubrey Plaza is phenomenal in the title role, as the obsessed fan of an “Instafamous” blogger – played by a note-perfect Elizabeth Olsen – who makes it her life ambition to befriend her idol. It’s a tragic and devastating ride. And way, way too real.

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11. OKJA

Director: Joon-Ho Bong

Release date: June 28, 2017

South Korean visionary director Joon-Ho Bong continued his impressive portfolio of visually inventive and thought-provoking cinema with a big-budget Netflix debut called Okja. With lovingly dark and completely oddball humour, and a cast of stars that sit perfectly on the director’s wave-length (Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal among them), Okja follows the relationship between a headstrong young girl and a genetically engineered animal bred for slaughter. It’s a wild ride, full of thrilling moments, and is, ultimately, a confronting statement about the continued mass slaughter of sentient beings for consumption.

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10. LIFE

Director: Daniel Espinosa

Release date: March 23, 2017

In spite of its blatant similarities to many other claustrophobic spaceship thrillers – à la a certain Ridley Scott movie – Life was one of the most superbly crafted flicks of 2017. In fact, if you take away its lack of originality it’s a rather faultless exercise in sci-fi horror tension. Director Daniel Espinosa (who made the underrated Child 44) takes a well-trodden idea and a stellar cast and crafts a dread-laden, white-knuckled genre piece with a deliciously nihilistic finale. In case you were wondering, still no one can hear you scream.

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09. MOTHER!

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Release date: September 14, 2017

Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky is at his most bizarre and idiosyncratic in mother!, the most dissectible cinematic outing of 2017. Posing ever-so-thinly as a psychological home invasion thriller, this perplexing and allegorical fever dream is unsettling, fascinating and, as it unravels towards its dizzying climax, a masterful and ambitious work. Mother! is not for everyone – it requires work on the part of the viewer, an effort to which not all are willing to commit. It shirks convention at every opportunity. But should you scratch beneath the surface you’ll uncover devastating commentary on not just our treatment of the environment, but the volatility of man and the tensions between Muse and Creator. A dense, fiercely original puzzle of a movie.

08. JACKIE

Director: Pablo Larraín

Release date: January 12, 2017

Natalie Portman’s remarkable portrayal of Jackie Kennedy was one of the year’s most hypnotic performances, truly inhabiting this complex and iconic figure. Director Pablo Larraín’s biopic is more esoteric than most. While it’s an insight into the horror of what Jackie, loving wife and adored public figure, went through on the day her husband, US president John F. Kennedy, was assassinated, Jackie is as much about mythology as it is grief. Jackie becomes the architect of her late husband’s legacy.

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07. A GHOST STORY

Director: David Lowery

Release date: July 27, 2017

David Lowery’s remarkable dissertation on sorrow and the heavy, relentless passage of time is an ambitious exercise. Casey Affleck becomes a ghost and subsequently wanders through the ages in an archetypal white sheet. His face is masked, rendering him a passive observer. The ensuing movie is a largely meditative exercise, filmed inside the one house, as Affleck’s apparition watches the world move on without him. It’s a shame an unnecessary monologue by musician Bonnie Prince Billy, aka Will Oldham, at a dinner party spells out the movie’s entire point. But it’s just one small misstep in an otherwise original and memorable film experience. Rooney Mara does most of A Ghost Story‘s heavy lifting and, as always, she’s mesmerising.

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06. PERSONAL SHOPPER

Director: Olivier Assayas

Release date: April 13, 2017

Following their work together on Clouds of Sils Maria, veteran French writer-director Olivier Assayas and Kristen Stewart again joined forces for the meditative and absorbingly atmospheric Personal Shopper. The filmmaker elicits yet another impressive performance from his muse, playing to her understated strengths. Stewart’s never been better, here playing the titular personal shopper Maureen. Her employer is the difficult and famous model Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten). But Maureen is not emotionally invested in Kyra’s career – she’s preoccupied by the notion of making contact with her dead twin brother Lewis. The two shared not only a congenital heart defect but also a medium’s ability to converse with spirits of the dead. Before Lewis’ passing, the twins made a pact that the first to die would attempt to contact the other from beyond the grave, reassuring them that they’re at peace. This wonderfully unsettling premise imbues this mesmeric exercise with slow-creeping dread, shaping a portrait of grief, glamour and the male gaze.

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05. STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Director: Rian Johnson

Release date: December 14, 2017

There’s a certain pleasure derived from watching Star Wars diehards throw their toys from the pram when their theories and dreams go unrealised. Such was the impact of The Last Jedi, director Rian Johnson’s breathtaking contribution to the franchise. Indeed, expectations were dismantled and gloriously rebuilt in the latest chapter in the Galaxy Far Far Way. The movie may not be perfect – some dialogue clangs and a handful of comedic moments fall flat (despite all being delivered in the cheesy spirit of the original trilogy) – but The Last Jedi is otherwise the most intelligently written and nuanced of any film in the official Star Wars canon, particularly with its attention to character detail. With scintillating action sequences (maybe not the “fathier” stampede – that’s one for the kids – but definitely the slo-mo red room showdown) and the feeling that something is actually at stake (a rare feeling in modern Star Wars outings), The Last Jedi demonstrates that “destruction leads to a very rough road but it also breeds creation“.

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04. GET OUT

Director: Jordan Peele

Release date: May 4, 2017

Expertly executed with razor sharp wit and social satire, Jordan Peele’s Get Out shows how a cleverly selected Frankenstein’s monster of horror genre tropes can be elevated into high art without losing its pulpy schlock charisma. Flipping The Stepford Wives on its head, Get Out demonstrates how easily the Left can start to resemble the Right in the modern ideological landscape. Impressive, too, is Peele’s masterful balance of laughs and genuine spine-tingling creep-out moments, which results in an utterly enthralling experience, satisfying as both a horror movie and piece of commentary.

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03. LOGAN

Director: James Mangold

Release date: March 1, 2017

It was the Marvel film we’d dreamed possible, but seemed desperately unlikely. And yet, director James Mangold (Walk the Line, Girl, Interrupted) made up for his only okay entry into the X-Men universe, The Wolverine, with a moving and mightily impressive film. Logan stands alone as a modern sci-fi classic, anchored by sublime performances by Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart, as two characters they now where like a second skin. Greatly served by the freedom of its R rating, Logan has expertly crafted action scenes, thrilling moments of violence, and genuinely funny comedic moments. In a franchise that’s largely gone through the motions, cannibalising and re-writing its own canon without a care in the world, its a relief to know that there is at least one entry in this endless cinematic X-Men endeavour that will stand the test of time.

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02. UNA

Director: Benedict Andrews

Release date: June 22, 2017

Not many movies venture into the taboo emotional territory of Benedict Andrews’ Una. Essentially a two-hander between Ben Mendelsohn and Rooney Mara, it’s no surprise that its source material is a stage play – Blackbird by David Harrower. Its lean on locations, taking part mostly in an austere warehouse, but this blandness of backdrop only highlights the scintillating confrontation within. Its two central performances are staggering – the best of Mara and Mendelsohn’s near faultless careers. Mara is the titular Una, who has tracked down the man, Ray (Mendelsohn), with whom she had a pedophilloic relationship when she was 13 years old and Ray was her neighbour. Few films have traversed the complexities of abuse and human sexuality in such a devastating manner.

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01. THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED)

Director: Noah Baumbach

Release date: October 13, 2017

By far the best film to which Netflix have laid claim, Noah Baumbach’s latest humanist comedy about the trials and tribulations of family and fading dreams is a funny, moving and eloquently drawn mini-masterpiece. It’s another gorgeous screenplay by its director, marked by wry, hilarious dialogue and superb performances from its incredible cast. Baumbach’s eye for detail is formidable and here he finds unpredictable ways to sucker punch you with a beautiful and honest revelation. Adam Sandler and Dustin Hoffman give performances that are as good as anything else in their showreel – the same can be said for Emma Thompson, Ben Stiller, Grace Van Patten, and Adam Driver in a fun cameo. An understated triumph.

DISCOVER THE TOP 20 MOVIES OF 2016

 

5 Upcoming Marvel and DC Movies You Should Be Excited About

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Following on from previous engaging listicles, such as “10 Upcoming Movies You Should be Excited About”, let’s take a look at the most anticipated Marvel and DC films for the end of 2017 and 2018.

Superhero movies are instant blockbusters these days, with both DC/Warner Bros. and Marvel/Disney raking in millions from their respective cinematic universes. It’s hard to say how long this superhero phenomenon will last but, until then, the most die-hard comic book lovers have plenty to be happy about.

As comic book characters permeate mainstream audiences, various other companies have joined the trend. For instance, the CW Television Network is now heavily associated with producing DC-centered shows, from The Flash and Arrow to Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow. Meanwhile, video game developers are also creating more narratives based on superheroes. Batman: The Telltale Series by Telltale Games, explores a fresh storyline for the classic DC character and is set in current times. The superhero craze even reached online, with gaming providers Spin Genie hosting a variety of superhero-inspired slot games including Wonder Woman and King of Atlantis. And Spin Genie is just one of many gaming communities that pay homage to our favourite crime fighting superheroes through digital games. In light of all these titles coming out from numerous industries, there seems to be no limit to the influence of superheroes.

The first half of 2017 alone was packed with superhero films, from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming to DC’s Wonder Woman. Yet there are still several titles coming out before 2017 ends. The next year of course, looks promising as well.

Here are 5 Marvel and DC flicks to get excited about.

1. Thor: Ragnarok

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Director: Taika Waititi

The third iteration sees the mighty Thor imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his hammer. He finds himself in a race against time as the entire Asgardian civilization is under threat from the all-powerful Hela. To escape, he must first compete in a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against the Incredible Hulk.

Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Hiddleston return as Thor, The Hulk, and Loki, respectively. Joining the cast are Cate Blanchett as Hela, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster.

Release Date: November 3, 2017

2. Justice League

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Directors: Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon

DC’s highly anticipated movie unites Batman (Ben Affleck) with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), along with The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). The team is up against the catastrophic threat of the Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons.

Unlike the dark, gritty mood present in Man of Steel and Batman V Superman, Justice League seems to take on a much lighter tone. It would be interesting to see the end result, since Joss Whedon took over director duties after Zack Snyder left due to a personal tragedy. Variety relayed that Warner Bros. reportedly spent millions on extensive reshoots to ensure that the movie’s success echoes that of Wonder Woman.

Release Date: November 17, 2017

3. Black Panther

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Director: Ryan Coogler

After the death of his father (shown in Captain America: Civil War), T’Challa returns home to the isolated African nation, Wakanda, to succeed the throne.

It’s unclear who the main villain is but we do know two characters of interest: M’Baku (Winston Duke), the head of a religious minority in Wakanda who doesn’t support the new king and; Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), who is the protagonist’s nemesis in the comics. Included in this superb cast ensemble are Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Daniel Kaluuya, Andy Serkis, and Martin Freeman.

Release Date: February 16, 2018

4. Avengers: Infinity War

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Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo

The Infinity War is a major storyline in the comics, and Marvel Studios is finally bringing it to the big screen. It will be told in two parts, with the second one due for a release in 2019. The Avengers join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy to battle Thanos (Josh Brolin), an ominous threat who intends to capture all 6 Infinity Stones and use them to essentially destroy reality.

Every Marvel Studios film has built up to this point, and whatever takes place after that is uncertain. Popular speculations note that Chris Evans’ Captain America will die in the epic battle against Thanos, and either Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) or Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) will take up his mantle.

Release Date: May 4, 2018

5. Aquaman

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Director: James Wan

No official synopsis has surfaced but fans were given a first preview of Aquaman at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. The footage revealed an underwater army, with schools of warriors riding sharks.

The film will most likely tackle Aquaman’s origin story. Jason Momoa’s character is the king of an underwater nation called Atlantis. Among his superpowers are the ability to manipulate tides, as well as communicate with any aquatic creature.

Furious 7 and The Conjuring director James Wan revealed the technical challenges that come with filming Aquaman. His sentiments were documented by The Hollywood Reporter, wherein he noted the difficulty of working with underwater sequences. Much of the challenge comes from his commitment to use less CGI. The cast also includes Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

Release Date: December 2018

mother!: review

[image error]Darren Aronofsky’s masterful, metaphorical fever dream not for the faint of heart

In Darren Aronofsky’s 2014 film Noah, an odd and strangely entertaining Biblical epic, two themes loomed large: spirituality and the plight of our planet. This speaks to his interests. The ambitious 48-year-old filmmaker is an active environmentalist, once taking a well-publicised trip with Leonardo DiCaprio to cast an eye over Canada’s dastardly tar sand deposits. He’s also voiced a fascination with Biblical stories. So Noah, the famous tale of the man chosen by God to rescue all animals from the Great Flood, explicitly combined these two profound themes.

Now Aronofsky returns to said subject matter – and a whole lot more – with mother!, a dense and multi-layered allegorical construct packaged as a supernatural home invasion thriller. Mother, played by Jennifer Lawrence, lives in an historic home with her handsome and noticeably older husband, Him (no characters in the film are named), played by Javier Bardem. Him is a poet of some renown but is in a creative rut. His dutiful young wife walks on eggshells around him, trying not to impede his creativity. Mother is also literally playing the role of homemaker, lovingly restoring and renovating the house they live in, which was previously destroyed in a fire before they met.

One night Man (Ed Harris) arrives, having been wrongly informed that their home is a bed and breakfast. But despite the confusion, Him insists, much to Mother’s behest, that Man still stay for the night as a guest. The following day Man’s wife Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) appears on the doorstep and Mother suddenly has two unwanted guests in her house. Woman is a handful – a heavy drinker and an incorrigible sticky beak.

There’s little point in revealing further plot details, because the narrative of mother! – if you could call it that – is entirely beside the point. The movie is not “plot-driven” in any traditional sense, but is instead a mysterious and dizzyingly crafted abstraction. The way that guests conduct themselves in the strikingly designed house (referred to early on as “paradise”) exists inside a heightened reality of pure dream logic, and is a wonderful representation of how it feels to be moving through a nightmare – or to be trapped in one. We also never leave this home, though we’re given glimpses of the lush meadow on which the house is situated. Aronofsky has also opted for no music (a full score was composed by Jóhann Jóhannsson, but he and Aronofsky ultimately decided that it detracted from the movie), though Patti Smith sings, quite tellingly, Skeeter Davis’ ‘The End of the World’ as the credits roll.

Jennifer Lawrence in Mother! Credit: Paramount Pictures

Unpacking the dense, speedy melodrama of mother!, with its fantastical heightened reality, is by no means an easy task. It’s multi-layered, unsettling and performed by the impressive cast (Kristen Wiig and Domhnall Gleeson also appear in fleeting supporting roles) with unwavering conviction. Knowing Aronofsky’s interest in environmentalism and religion may assist you in deciphering and interpreting the rapid-fire clues, especially towards the tail-end of the movie’s wild crescendo. Some moments are too big to miss, while others are subtle. There’s lots of avatars on screen, from Mother Nature to God, Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel.

Mother! is delivered with aplomb and reaffirms Aronofsky as a great modern auteurist. But because of its spectacular nature, the director has an uphill battle to make the film connect emotionally. For the most part it does, but it won’t resonate with every viewer. Because the characters are symbolic rather than human, and the film’s absurdist bent escalates rather sharply, it’s easy to become emotionally detached – to see it all as a great stunt. It’s an expertly crafted artifice, a carousel, with all its faux horses, that increases in speed until you’re thrown from the saddle. It’s a far cry from the inescapable and visceral gut-punches of Aronofsky’s other major films, like Requiem for a Dream (which also had a druggy dream-like quality) and The Wrestler. Aronfosky’s counting on grand, sweeping metaphors to move his audience, which is both ambitious and risky.

Noticeable themes aside, there’s even more going on in mother! than Aronofsky himself might be aware. In interviews for the film’s release he’s confirmed the aforementioned Biblical and environmental metaphors. But there’s something larger at work. Mother! is ultimately a very blunt and unwavering black comedy about the relationship between a Creator and their work, their audience and their loved ones. The movie explores Bardem’s struggles with inspiration (he doesn’t seem to find any in his caring young wife), but is quick to pick up a pen when praise is bestowed upon him by strangers. Vanity appears to be his creative sustenance. The hysteria of celebrity worship soon follows. Violence and destruction are presented as potential bi-products of both Creation and Fame. Bardem’s poet is capable of being a loving husband but is prone to raging narcissism. His written words cast a spell over those that read him, as does the work of writers in the real world – in Aronofsky’s world. As the director demonstrates in mother!, the written word is all-powerful: it can comfort strangers in their time of grief or rile them into armed conflict. Those lovers and loved ones in the periphery of explosive talent and dogged ambition can soon become collateral damage.

Mother!‘s depiction of the relationship between Creator and Muse is delivered with rather damning precision. It makes you wonder if Aronofsky, himself a Creator, is subconsciously apologising to past flames. Could there be something of the director in Bardem’s poet? Adding to all this intrigue is that Aronofsky has since started dating his lead actress, and the age gap between him and Lawrence is comparable to that of Mother and Him. Life imitating art, indeed.

Aronofsky’s infatuation is apparent in every frame, with Lawrence’s face appearing exclusively in medium close-ups or extreme close-ups, breaking only to show her point-of-view. Characters in the scene with her are sometimes talking directly to camera, or the frame hovers just over her shoulder. Lawrence’s natural beauty is key, of course, to Aronfosky’s Mother Nature premise. The filmmaker’s camera follows her throughout the large house in a gentle but striking opening sequence; Mother searching the home, dressed in a sheer, fitted cotton garment – a vision of purity. Everything goes drastically downhill from the moment Him appears on screen, spinning towards a conclusion that fits with Aronofsky’s over-arching concept but is ultimately a little too hokey. Brave, sure. But hokey as fuck.

Aronofsky has said that one of his major goals as a filmmaker is to give audiences something they haven’t experienced before. That should be music to the ears of anyone that has loudly maligned the cycle of reboots and rehashes that Hollywood uses to maintain its cash flow. It should buoy those of us suffering sequel and superhero fatigue. It’s heartening, too, that a major studio like Paramount Pictures took a $30m gamble to bring mother! to fruition, clearly placing stock in Lawrence’s broad appeal and Aronofsky’s cult status amongst discerning cinephiles. The film stands to lose money – perhaps it always did. But the mostly negative public reaction to mother! – the unwillingness to submit to its originality – perhaps says a great deal about where our heart truly lies. It’s counter-productive to complain of blandness and then spit when things get spicy.

FOUR STARS

 

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets: review

[image error]French writer-director Luc Besson returns to wild sci-fi territory with hot mess Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

Valerian, the titular character of writer-director Luc Besson’s latest sci-fi venture, sits on a chair in a futuristic burlesque club. A camp cowboy pimp called Jolly, played by Ethan Hawke, is tinkling away on a piano while a blue jellyfish-type humanoid has shape-shifted into pop superstar Rihanna. She’s doing an extended sexy dance routine in which she, through the aid of state-of-the-art digital effects, is changing outfits and occasionally spinning on the stage’s lone pole.

Valerian’s decision to watch Rihanna gyrate for an extended period is completely understandable. Few could fault our hero’s keenness to see the performance through to its climax. But, despite Rihanna’s genetic make-up, his attentiveness is a little odd when you consider that in this moment Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) is on a seemingly urgent secondary mission to rescue his partner Sergeant Laureline (Cara Delevingne) from a hulking tribe of aliens that intend to eat her, as well as a primary mission to defeat an unknown alien presence that may be threatening to destroy “The City of a Thousand Planets”, a mammoth spaceship that is key to alien relations throughout the known universe.

The clock’s ticking, Val.

Oddball moments like this – the most extreme suspensions of disbelief – are just some of the reasons why critics have been divided in their assessments of Besson’s sweeping, wildly indulgent and visually spectacular new movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

 

The opening montage of Valerian, imbued with nostalgia by David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’, depicts the evolution of the International Space Station into Alpha, a complex gargantuan spaceship that opens its doors to new races of aliens and soon expands to a stupendous size. The co-operation between intelligent species means Alpha is a key exchange of knowledge and ideas, and the myriad races live together in relative harmony.

Then we find ourselves on an idyllic beach planet. We’re introduced to a majestic and toned humanoid race of low-tech natives, strangely reminiscent of the Na’vi in Avatar, just as debris from a space battle tears through their atmosphere and destroys their pristine locale. Their fiery fate appears to Major Valerian in a vision, but he has little time to investigate because he and partner Laureline are urgently called upon by their commander Arün Filitt (Clive Owen) to solve a mystery unfolding in the heart of Alpha. Something growing in the spaceship’s core is threatening to destroy the intergalactic hub. Romance also has to take a backseat, as horn-dog Valerian intends to convince Laureline that he’s not the fuck boy she thinks he is and that they should be together.

The beloved French graphic novel series Valérian and Laureline, written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières, debuted in 1967 and has had something of an unsung influence on modern science fiction. The design of the series, centred around the working and romantic relationship of its two title characters, has been credited with influencing everything from Star Wars to Independence Day and Conan The Barbarian.

Besson has been a fan of the Valerian graphic novels since he was a child. His connection to them grew when Mézières contributed to the design of Besson’s American breakthrough movie The Fifth Element, which was the highest grossing French production at the foreign box office until 2011 schmaltz fest The Intouchables bumped it from the mantle.

Valerian won’t quite follow in The Fifth Element‘s footsteps at the box office, though both films demonstrate Besson’s creative genetic make-up – ingredients that as a viewer you either love or hate; cheesy humour and dialogue, inventive set pieces and whimsical central ideas. Both are pieces of escapist cinema that Besson clearly hopes will find an audience in all age groups. Since his 1994 masterpiece Léon (known in Oz as The Professional), Besson as a screenwriter and director has been more interested in creating a heightened cinematic reality on screen, penning numerous action movies, than immersing the viewer in gritty humanist drama. The exception is 2011’s The Lady, a biopic about the rise of current Myanmarese State Councillor Aung San Suu Ky, but that well-received film is wedged amongst his writing for the Taken and Transporter action franchises.

Valerian is a return to the immersive science fiction of The Fifth Element (which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary) and demonstrates what Besson can achieve on screen with the advanced technology invented by James Cameron to make his Avatar films. The special effects here are truly incredible. And buried amongst the sensory overload is an interesting central narrative, a morality tale worth of dissection. But a series of key ingredients do Besson’s vision a great disservice.

“In a fairer world it would be her name in the film’s title and not that of Valerian, whose charisma is tantamount to being slapped in the face with a moist leaf of bok choy.”

Major Valerian proves the major issue – the casting of DeHaan as the super-confident Lothario and gifted special agent is a misstep. The ethereal actor doesn’t convince in regards to both charm and physicality. Besson might have been looking for a less typical action hero to cast as his central character, but DeHaan is a dour performer more suited to the likes of Gore Verbinski’s A Cure For Wellness, in which his sullen features made him perfectly suited to that gothic thriller. DeHaan’s chemistry with colleague Laureline is central to the film’s overall success and it’s simply lacking. With every frame imbued with life and vivid imagination, it’s a shame that the title character proves so draining on the film’s energy.

In extreme contrast, Delevingne is a revelation. The actress is a strong, radiant presence and there’s a take-no-bullshit comic subtlety to her performance that elevates Laureline’s otherwise one-dimensional characterisation. In a fairer world it would be her name in the film’s title and not that of Valerian, whose charisma is tantamount to being slapped in the face with a moist leaf of bok choy.

The feeling one takes away from Valerian is that it’s another grandiose missed opportunity for major science fiction to appear on screen outside of the Marvel or DC universes, a realisation familiar to those that saw The Wachowskis’ ambitious but ultimately forgettable space opera Jupiter Ascending. Valerian is superior to that movie – perhaps better compared to Disney’s 2012 flop John Carter which was hugely enjoyable in spite of its cheesiness. There are kitsch laughs to be gleaned from the fast-paced adventure of Valerian, but for every great moment are two more pieces of clunky dialogue or inexplicable digression (like the aforementioned Rihanna sequence). Besson’s quirks are silly and fun – in and of themselves very un-American and endearing – but the glaring flaws of Valerian are hard to look past.

It’s easy to forget that on paper The Fifth Element was built on a fairly cheesy and very simple premise, but a well chosen cast propelled it into “classic” territory. Valerian would be a very different movie with that film’s central actors, Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich, leading the action – and vice versa. Willis was a bona fide movie star and Jovovich was mesmerising as the film’s title character. We need their star power in Valerian. With over $200m worth of world-building lighting up the screen, it’s a shame that Besson’s sci-fi return is ultimately let down by the element that costs the least to create – the screenplay.

THREE STARS

The Mummy: review

AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GODDESS HAS HER HEART SET ON BEING WITH TOM CRUISE IN THE TEDIOUS FIRST INSTALMENT OF THE “DARK UNIVERSE” FRANCHISE.

In a refreshing change from the status quo, Universal has decided to dust off their classic monsters intellectual properties and create what’s known as a “franchise”; this is a series of interconnected movies with outrageous budgets, big-name bankable stars and state-of-the-art special effects.

Amongst these IPs are Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Van Helsing, Wolf Man, Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, Hunchback of Notre-Dame and the Invisible Man.

The first film to roll off the so-called “Dark Universe” conveyor belt, a long-term project headed by seasoned blockbuster screenwriter Alex Kurtzman, is The Mummy. It’s not connected (save for one small Easter Egg) to the wildly enjoyable Mummy series created by director Stephen Sommers in 1999, which starred Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, but rather a present-day reimagining of the Mummy mythology and a peek into the shared universe to come. Both 2017 and 1999’s Mummy movies are technically remakes of Universal’s 1932 film of the same name, which starred Boris Karloff as the titular mummified antagonist.

In this new update, Tom Cruise plays himself, who is in turn pretending to be American soldier and ancient artefact thief Nick Morton who, along with partner in crime Chris Vail (Jake Johnson), visits abandoned Iraqi towns and raids their priceless possessions before terrorist groups arrive to wreak havoc and unknowingly cover the pair’s tracks. They’re following a map that Tom Cruise has stolen from archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis), which he snatched during a one-night stand. After coming under heavy fire, Tom Cruise and Vail accidentally uncover a hidden tomb of Egyptian origin.

We’ve learned from the film’s opening monologue and flashback montage that this is not so much a tomb, but a prison designed to detain the evil goddess Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella). When her father’s new born son takes her place as heir to the throne, Ahmanet cracks the shits and sells her soul to the God of Death, Set. She makes a deal that once she has killed her baby brother and father, she will ritualistically kill a chosen lover with a special dagger and Set will enter the lover’s corporeal form. They’ll rule together. But before she can enact this final part of the plan, her father’s priests ensnare her and mummify her alive.

Needless to say, when Tom Cruise foolishly cracks open her sarcophagus thousands of years later, Ahmanet’s keen to do more than just stretch her legs and get the latest iPhone. The sexy-despite-being-a-zombie Princess wants to rule the world and finish the last part of her deal with Set. She chooses the first decent-looking piece of man-meat that she lays eyes on, which happens to be famous movie star Tom Cruise. Now Cruise’s cursed, and Ahmanet won’t stop until she’s turned him into her Set beau. You might say she’s… got her heart Set on it? Nice.

Tom Cruise is tracked down by Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe), who has a particular interest in the science of ancient evil and intends to help Tom Cruise with his little curse problem, whether he likes it or not.

 

When we meet him,Tom-Cruise-under-a-different-name is the lowest of all thieves and is completely without honour. The moment in which he releases Ahmanet is an act of incomprehensible douche-baggery.

 

If anyone is capable of elevating hackneyed material and a by-the-numbers vehicle with pure unadulterated leading-man charisma, it’s Tom Cruise. At age 54, he seems most comfortable as the action hero, scrambling from one state-of-the-art set piece to another. There’s not a world of difference between the smug confidence and detached charm of Ethan Hunt, Jack Reacher and The Mummy’s Nick Morton aka Tom Cruise. Each is resourceful and physically capable and Cruise seems abundantly aware that his star power is worth the price of admission.

And yet, in The Mummy, he has never been so boring or unlikable. When we meet him, Tom-Cruise-under-a-different-name is the lowest of all thieves and is completely without honour. The moment in which he releases Ahmanet is an act of incomprehensible douche-baggery. The Halsey character picks our hero as a dickhead early on and then, in dutiful female lead fashion, seems intent on trying to fall in love with Tom Cruise, asserting that deep down there’s a nice guy inside him just waiting to get out. But is there? And Cruise as Morton is no likeable anti-hero, he’s just a shit bloke that got himself into a situation he’d rather not be in.

The Mummy falls flat in every aspect. This is slightly unexpected, as Cruise is normally a better judge. His recent forays into fantasy and science fiction, Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow, two films in which he also plays Tom Cruise, stole ideas in the same way Morton steals artefacts. Those two films were by no means classics but at least they were enjoyable popcorn spectacles with scintillating set pieces. They kept your attention.

Cruise has also been very careful to up the ante with his Mission Impossiblestunts and sequences. You can sense his desire to be inventive, either through narcissistic self-indulgence or a genuine desire to impress his fans. The Mummy‘s anti-gravity plane crash (which Cruise had supposedly been keeping in his back pocket for a Mission Impossible flick), is a stand-out, but not as jaw-dropping as it might have been.

One of the big moments in Kurtzman’s film, a conjured sandstorm sequence where Ahmanet’s face looms in the cloud as it rolls down a city street, is stolen from Stephen Sommers’ 1999 version. Imhotep will be pissed.

So what happened with The Mummy? What director Kurtzman has delivered is a joyless, uneven exercise that never reaches any great height. We’ve just seen this all before. Cruise phones in his most beige performance, tied to a series of strange, confused expressions in which he tries to understand visions that Ahmanet has planted in his mind. Compare this Morton alias to Brendan Fraser’s Rick O’Connell in the previous Mummy and the latter looks like Laurence Olivier. While Fraser’s moment as a bankable action hero seems to have come and gone, his metamorphosis from Encino Man funny guy into rugged, buff adventurer meant he had a keen sense of comic timing and he delivered his one-liners with aplomb.

Jake Johnson, of New Girl, Jurassic World and a host of great indie flicks fame, has been shoehorned into the script, seemingly to bring some of the schlocky quirks that many of the original Universal monster movies had in spades. But he just doesn’t fit in, instead relegated to a comic device that’s been blatantly stolen from An American Werewolf in London. Every time he yells “Nick!” at Cruise’s character, he may as well be looking in a mirror talking to his New Girl character of the same name. Johnson struggles in a movie that takes itself way too seriously.

Russell Crowe, whom Australia went to some effort to steal from New Zealand, is one of our finest actors. Yet here, as far as ham acting goes, he serves up a suckling pig. His Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde schtick is but a cartoon character. We know, both on screen and off, our Rusty can be a very intimidating bloke, but there’s not much to be excited or scared about when Mr Hyde appears. Crowe’s immense talents have been wasted.

Like so many other movies with designs on being overblown special-effects extravaganzas, The Mummy falls down in its characterization. Some writers can economically shape a character in our heads with limited screen time, through clever, intelligent dialogue and relatable motivations, and still provide mesmerising action. In this, Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy was a masterclass. The Dark Knight had nuance beyond the spectacle and, in a very meta way, explored the idea of what it was to be a comic book hero. But The Mummy has no such aspirations. The screenplay by heavyweights David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman, banks on the fact that we already know this Cruise character, that we’ll transplant Ethan Hunt and Jack Reacher into this film; that knowing Cruise himself is simply enough to go along for the ride. It’s not.

Cruise reportedly had major input into every facet of The Mummy and it’s a curious insight into the actor. If you believe reports of Cruise’s role within the Church of Scientology, theorised in Alex Gibney’s compelling doco Going Clear, the actor’s God complex is fuelled by the reverence he is shown within the cult. He’s treated and worshipped as a deity. Those scenes in Gibney’s film echo in the back of your mind as the all-powerful Ahmanet chooses to lust after Cruise, no matter the cost, with the narrative building to a predictable finale that seems designed to prop up the idea of Cruise as super-human.

The Mummy is a big, faltering step for Universal and its grand designs for this new franchise. Next in the queue is Bride of Frankenstein, slated for release in February 2019 with the very sturdy Bill Condon (2017’s Beauty and the Beast) at the helm, and one can only hope that Universal finds a way to recapture the gothic fun and pure cinematic escapism of the franchise that its chosen to dig from its grave and reanimate.

ONE STAR

Wonder Woman: review

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It’s women to the rescue for the DC cinematic universe, as Gadot and Jenkins deliver a tentpole that could break the glass ceiling.

“Be careful in the world of men, Diana, they do not deserve you,” says Amazonian Queen Hippolyta to her daughter, Diana. Despite the advice, Diana, aka Wonder Woman, doesn’t need to be too careful in the world of men, because your average male is but a mosquito to be swatted; this gal can move faster than a bullet, leap across the landscape in giant bounds and pummel hordes of blokes without breaking a sweat.

The latest adaptation of the famous DC character is faithful to Wonder Woman’s back story. Princess Diana (Israeli actress Gal Gadot), is a badass bodice-rockin’ warrior and lives on the magical island paradise Themyscira, which is veiled in a supernatural force field that cloaks it from the outside world (known as “Man’s World”).

For the uninitiated, Wonder Woman’s origins are woven into Greek mythology. Diana is the daughter of Amazonian Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and the niece of Amazonian army commander Antiope (Robin Wright). The Amazons were created by Zeus to keep men in check, custom-built by the King of the Gods to placate and diffuse the inherent violence in men’s hearts and keep the world at peace.

But Zeus’ jealous son, Ares, the God of War, goes about corrupting man (it doesn’t prove difficult) and then kills off every god that challenges him, including his father Zeus. As Hippolyta explains to young Diana in the film’s opening act, Zeus has left the Amazons a weapon to defeat Ares, should he ever return.

 

If you were to ask Wonder Woman “Who run the world?” she would enthusiastically reply “Girls! We run this mother!”

 

The idyllic Amazon existence is disturbed when handsome World War I air force intelligence officer Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes his plane into the waters off the coast of Themyscira, and is rescued by Diana. Steve is the first man she has ever met. The spy explains to the princess and her people that outside the literal bubble in which they reside, the world is at war. Upon hearing of the extent of the devastation, Diana believes “The Great War” is the work of Ares and it’s her duty to stop him.

Romance inevitably sparks between Steve and Diana as he leads her into the real world, and comic moments are derived from the “fish-out-of-water” scenario. Diana (in the alias Diana Prince) doesn’t take too kindly to male-dominated London circa 1918, because of her upbringing in an empowered matriarchal society. If you were to ask Wonder Woman “Who run the world?” she would enthusiastically reply “Girls! We run this mother!” To better fit in, Steve tries to get Diana Prince to be submissive, but this is never going to happen. Diana’s no Eliza Doolittle. In fact, she’s probably met Pygmalion.

Wonder Woman has been an enduring feminist icon in popular culture and in the hands of Monster director Patty Jenkins, the message of empowerment is writ large throughout. Jenkins was an interesting choice, given the harrowing and gritty nature of her 2003 debut foray into feature film. Monster garnered Charlize Theron a Best Actress Oscar for her role as executed serial killer Aileen Wuornos and was made for only $8m.

As seems to be the case when indie directors are handed the reins to a monolithic comic or video game adaptation, the individual style and voice of that person seems lost in the blinding sheen and impatient narrative. Jenkins’ sensibility remains, perhaps, only in the obvious feminist markers, but is as lost to the scale of the production as Duncan Jones in Warcraft and Colin Trevorrow in Jurassic World.

While largely indistinguishable from that of her superhero director peers, Jenkins’ handling of Wonder Woman‘s effects-laden set pieces is impressive. Diana’s rampage on the Belgian front is a fresh and visually arresting sequence, as is the moment German soldiers land on the shores of Themyscira and are dispatched with lethal elegance by the bow-and-arrow toting Amazons.

Other moments feel all too familiar. With evil Germans General Ludendorff (Danny Huston) and Doctor Poison (Elena Anaya) plotting all sorts of devious acts, the film sometimes echoes of Marvel’s World War II superhero flick Captain America: The First Avenger, where Hugo Weaving sunk his teeth into the particularly heinous Nazi Johann Schmidt. And when the principal antagonist of Wonder Woman is revealed it’s something of a disappointment, making for a very strange showdown. It’s an odd creative decision and piece of miscasting.

But there’s a lot to like about Jenkins’ film. The feminist themes may be heavy handed, but it’s hard not to smile when Wonder Woman visits the Belgian front and proves that “No Man’s Land” definitely doesn’t apply to women (“I’m the man that can!” Diana roars when Steve tells her no man can make it across the unoccupied zone). It’s hard not to chuckle when Steve’s secretary Etta (The Office‘s Lucy Davis) explains her job to Diana and the heroine replies: “Where we come from, that’s called slavery.”

Sure, you can dismantle Wonder Woman and locate a chain of cliches – that is, after all, what male-centric superhero movies have been spewing for decades. But Jenkins’ fantasy epic is a Warner Bros. tentpole that just might break the glass ceiling. With an opening weekend of $100.5m, Wonder Woman has become the biggest opening box office gross for a film directed by a female.

That’s not the only record to fall. Jenkins was handed a $140 million budget, a figure that’s the largest for any female director in history. It broke the previous record held by Kathryn Bigelow for 2002’s $100m submarine thriller K-19: The Widowmaker. Jenkins has also become the first female to direct one of these wizz-bang superhero flicks and, on the strength of it, maybe needs more input into following DC instalments.

The director is served by a strong cast. We were first introduced to Gadot as Wonder Woman in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. She’s genetically perfect as the warrior princess. And, along with being aesthetically mesmerising on a big screen, the statuesque actress is both stoic and endearing, demonstrating both the physicality and sense of comic timing required to carry a blockbuster. She manages to ground the large-scale dizzying escapism with a committed performance. With Wonder Woman being such a single-mindedly heroic and selfless creation, Gadot’s delivery could have been as beige as Henry Cavill’s Superman. But she’s far sassier.

Pine, key to the Star Trek franchise, is no stranger to big-budget fantasy. He’s suitably rugged and charismatic as Wonder Woman’s famous love interest, and has real on-screen chemistry with his co-star. Pine deserves an Oscar for keeping a straight face while bound by the “Lasso of Truth”. The supporting cast, which includes Trainspotting’s Ewen Bremner, inject humour and levity where necessary.

Only good can come from the introduction of Wonder Woman to a new generation of young girls and boys, with positive feminist messages conveyed amongst the popcorn moments. Diana is the catalyst of the action, leading men into battle without fear. She doesn’t wait for permission. While you can’t dismiss Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff in the Marvel universe, “reformed Russian assassin” doesn’t seem quite as relatable as “brave warrior princess” for a young imagination.

Wonder Woman‘s worth two hours of your time. Jenkins and her leading lady have made this film the saving grace of the so-far substandard DC cinematic universe. Unless the game is rigged, expect Gadot to steal the show in the impending Justice League crossover.

THREE STARS

Twin Peaks returns, and it’s black as midnight on a moonless night

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Twin Peaks has returned after 25 years – and it’s Lynch’s way or the lost highway. 

Many pundits, within and outside the film industry, have been trumpeting the notion that film is dead. Television is now the safe space for narrative innovation. Few have been more vocal purveyors of this idea than David Lynch.

TV, once seen as the stepping stone to Hollywood, is now a port in a storm, a welcoming get-together where David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann and Jane Campion are not afraid to be seen.

Lynch, always two steps ahead, made the potentially frightful leap back in the late ’80s, having already proved himself something of a cinematic master. He had Eraserhead, Dune, The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet under his belt before he teamed with Mark Frost to develop a TV series about a small fictional town in the Pacific Northwest.

But outside pressures (TV executives) soon tainted the purity of Lynch and Frost’s vision, forcing them to solve the murder at the heart of the series – “Who killed Laura Palmer?” – well before the show’s creators had planned. Despondent, Lynch made the film Wild at Heart and only returned to the series to appear on-screen as near-deaf FBI agent Gordon Cole and to direct three crucial episodes in the second season. The narrative became convoluted, ratings dropped and the axe swung. The rest is history. Twin Peaks was relegated to the annals of cult fanaticism. In the ensuing years the series would prove to be the most influential TV drama ever made (it’s been said “Twin Peaks” is now more an adjective then it is a noun) and garner a large fanbase.

Lynch’s big send off was the 1992 prequel movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, made a year after the axing of the series. It was a mostly unnecessary film that proved the director’s elegy to Laura Palmer. Lynch admitted to being in love with the character, much in the same manner as practically every man in Twin Peaks.

Fire Walk With Me examines Laura’s mental state and dangerous lifestyle in the last seven days of her life, the sordid details of which had already been mostly revealed in the original series. But this was Lynch’s R-rated version of the show, an opportunity to calibrate the tone and atmosphere as he wanted it. Subsequently, the movie featured more sex and violence than the series, as well as hefty doses of Lynch’s now trademark impressionism. It was made without Frost’s input, as his and Lynch’s relationship had become strained.

Despite this addendum, a burning question remained: what if Lynch and Frost had had complete creative freedom all those years ago? What would the show have looked like? That answer has finally arrived. A third season of Twin Peaks, 25 years in the making, with a pleasingly large portion of its original cast, has premiered on Showtime (and Stan in Australia).

Twenty five years is a long time for any story teller, but it’s especially lengthy for a mind that functions like Lynch’s. After Twin Peaks, the Montana native became a deconstructionist. Two of his following major films, 1997’s Lost Highway and 2001’s masterpiece Mulholland Drive, take a fairly simple premise and imbue it with abstractions, nuance, visual poeticism, mystery, absurdist humour, creeping dread and enviable artistic flair. Lynch dismantled traditional linear narratives and rebuilt them into something puzzling, engrossing and arcane.

It’s really no surprise then that Lynch’s return to Twin Peaks, alongside longtime collaborator Frost is, at least structurally, a very different beast to seasons one and two. This is Lynch let loose, back in the director’s chair with a big television budget at his disposal. It’s his way or the lost highway. This new 18 episode season, Twin Peaks: The Return, is ostensibly an 18-hour Lynch movie.

The most jarring moment is not when our coffee-loving protagonist FBI agent Dale Cooper appears on screen, now with a quarter century mapped on his once perfect face, sitting opposite the riddle-loving giant (Carel Struycken). No, it comes when we’re suddenly floating over an arresting night-time shot of New York City. This is the first time in the TV series (excluding Fire Walk With Me) that we’ve been outside the titular town. At once we know that the scope has widened. Lynch then finds a way to make an empty glass box feel as menacing as a coiled cobra.

What we’re then presented with over the first four episodes is a series of disparate storylines that may or may not eventually weave together. What we essentially learn is that Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) has been as we left him, trapped in the infamous Black Lodge – a sort of inter-dimensional limbo from Native American mythology where pure spirits are tested by unthinkable evil. It appears, famously, as a red curtained room furnished with antiques. Everyone talks backwards.

The evil spirit Bob has resided in Agent Cooper’s body in the real world for the past 25 years and it’ll come as no surprise that he’s still a pretty nasty piece of work. He kills and runs drugs and generally indulges in his existence in a manner that would make Beelzebub most proud. We follow Bob/Agent Cooper through North Dakota as real Agent Cooper is left to find his way from the Black Lodge.

While the show does drop in and out of the town of Twin Peaks, revealing some very familiar faces, and some new ones, the nostalgia fest is very short lived. Because Lynch and Frost are not here to pander to their fans. They’re back to tell a story and make art. The darkness that permeated the original series was largely kept in the background, hidden in shadow, toned down for a mainstream audience, but in this new season it has definitely stepped into the light.

Gone, too, are the soap opera elements. The fuzzy filmic look of the original series is now registered in stark digital (Lynch renounced film stock and embraced digital technology for 2006’s Inland Empire). The “kitschness” has also departed. The pacing of the show, from the length of the shots to the cadences of the dialogue, are now designed to keep the viewer off balance – almost disorientated. On edge.

A very simple conversation is suddenly laden with suspense when the actors leave an unnatural pause between their lines, and the sustained, ominous notes of the soundtrack emerge from the ether. Take, for example, a scene seven-minutes into episode two, in Las Vegas, where a boss, Mr Todd, hands two wads of cash to his employee, Roger, and tells him to inform an unseen woman that she “has the job”. This simple exchange is loaded with palpable dread. Roger then asks Mr Todd, “Why do you let him make you do these things?” We are yet to know to whom Roger is referring (perhaps we will never know), but what comes next is a heavily pregnant pause, before Mr Todd replies to his employee. “Roger, you better hope that you never get involved with someone like him. Never have someone like him in your life.”

“IT MIGHT FEEL LIKE IN TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN LYNCH HAS BUILT A RUBIK’S CUBE AND HANDED IT TO A COLOURBLIND WORLD, BUT THE FILMMAKER IS NEVER OBTUSE FOR THE SAKE OF IT.”

Another such Lynchian scene takes place in Buckhorn, South Dakota, in which a nutty woman smells something outside her neighbour’s apartment and dials 911 for fear that something’s happened to the woman that lives there. The police arrive and rather than cut to the officers already in the apartment, as might happen in an episode of Law & Order, Lynch takes us through a five-minute exchange in which the police try to get the key. This is probably something that cops go through on a regular basis, but Lynch and Frost find great humour (however frustrating) in the minutiae of this simple situation. Once the cops make it into the apartment to investigate the smell, the pay off proves spectacularly gruesome.

Another scene worthy of dissection (and study in film school), due to its rather incredible mix of sound, performance and execution, is an exchange at the end of Episode 4 between FBI agents Cole (reprised by Lynch) and FBI Agent Albert Rosenfield (the late Miguel Ferrer). The scene, seemingly shot in the late afternoon or early morning, has been colour graded into an azure wash and made to look like it was filmed under the midnight sun. Cole, always at the mercy of his hearing aid, turns the volume to the max so that he can speak quietly with Rosenfield (he normally has to yell). This exaggerates every little sound. Rosenfield’s shoe across the cement is a deafening screech. Rosenfield confesses something big to Cole, who in turn says Albert’s name three times then pauses – as if time stops or he’s had a stroke-like episode. The two then agree that the situation they have found themselves in is a “blue rose”, a code name Cole uses for cases that cannot be rationally explained – possibly supernatural in nature. Hence the blue wash of the scene?

It might feel like in Twin Peaks: The Return Lynch has built a Rubik’s cube and handed it to a colourblind world, but the filmmaker is never obtuse for the sake of it. The show is indeed a puzzle – there will be some answers, while others will have to be vivisected by the ravenous fandom wikis of the internet. Lynch inherently knows that it’s never fun or interesting to spell everything out for the audience, and it is unsolved mysteries that ultimately have the most lasting and chilling impact.

Strap yourselves in, kids.

Oh, and don’t forget the giant’s riddle to Cooper in Episode 1. “Remember 430. Richard and Linda. Two birds one stone.”

That giant’s usually on the money.

Episode 5 of  Twin Peaks: The Return  will air on Stan on June 5.