David R. Walker

Archive for March, 2024

Godzilla x Kong The New Empire

Director: Adam Wingard

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Brian Tyree Henry, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, Fala Chen, Rachel House

Running Time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

In the ambitious sequel to the 2021 monster film Godzilla vs Kong, director Adam Wingard returns as director for the 2024 film titled Godzilla x Kong The New Empire and deftly expands the storyline of Kaylee Hottle’s character Jia whose foster mother Irene Andrews is once again played by British star Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Frost Nixon, The Prestige).

Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens (I am Your Man, Blithe Spirit, Beauty and the Beast) is added to the cast as the goofy Titan veterinarian Trapper, all bravado and hippie vibes as he expertly extracts a broken tooth from an anesthetized King Kong after Kong snapped a front tooth after eating a primordial creature in the Hollow Earth, his natural reclusive playground which appears to contain more subterranean secrets which are revealed later in the film’s sprawling narrative.

Oscar nominee Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway) stars as fanatical Titan podcaster Bernie Hayes who relishes the opportunity to team up with Andrews and Trapper as they have to figure out the strange symbols that Jia has been receiving, which reveals a distress signal from a lost ancient civilization.

While the human interest angle of the narrative fades very quickly in favour of the gigantic monsters, it really is Kong and Godzilla who take centre stage in this CGI effects laden sequel which is truly spectacular as the two beasts lure each other to exotic geographical landmarks like the pyramids outside Cairo and to the Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro. Godzilla after nestling comfortably in the ancient ruins of the Colosseum in Rome is awakened as he senses Kong’s presence but this time it is not for combat but to unite against a far greater threat.

The new threat appears as the Skar King of Hollow Earth, a malicious ape that has a massive following who is planning on using Shimo, an ancient ice powered Titan, Godzilla’s nemesis to threaten the delicately balanced status quo between Monarch’s worlds.

With Jia discovering her natural tribe and the humans trying to survive amidst the gigantic battle between Kong and the Skar King, Godzilla x Kong The New Empire is a stunning, visually exciting special effects feast of monster battles, fantastic creatures and an epic battle of Titans.

While Godzilla is embedded in Japanese cultural mythology cemented recently by the 2024 Oscar win for Best Visual Effects for the Japanese language film Godzilla Minus One, Kong gets amble opportunity to explore his territory and origins as he navigates a Planet of the Apes inspired Hollow Earth environment. In this film, Kong steals the show.

In Godzilla x Kong The New Empire both beasts get ample screen time even with the radioactive Godzilla emerging out of the ocean in Rio with a pink glow. This monster fantasy film definitely has a specific fan base and if you belong to the tribe that loves Godzilla films and Japanese Anime then you will thoroughly enjoy this 2024 sequel which remains tantalizing, exciting and filled with colossal action.

Godzilla x Kong The New Empire gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and definitely see it on the big screen, preferably in Imax 3D.

Recommended viewing as the first big action film, eagerly starting off the 2024 summer blockbuster season.

Road House

Director: Doug Liman

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Billy Magnussen, Conor MacGregor, Daniela Melchior, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida, Lukas Gage, Hannah Love Lanier

Running Time: 2 hours and 1 minute

Streaming Service: Amazon Prime

Film Rating:  6.5 out of 10

PLEASE NOTE THIS FILM IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME

21^st century remakes of 1980’s action movies can be hit and miss but in the 2024 version of the 1989 film Road House, this time starring Jake Gyllenhaal as ex-UFC fighter Dalton who gets a job at a dive bar in the Florida Keys as a bouncer starts off really cheesy but ends with a bang.

That’s thanks to the casting of Mixed Martial Arts fighter Conor MacGregor as Dalton’s nemesis, the psychotic Knox and the fight sequence at the end is riveting. While the script in Road House needed some work, the Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman does maintain the pace of this action remake.

Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) bulks up for the role of Dalton, the muscular tough ex fighter now bouncer who assists Road House owner Frankie played by Jessica Williams as she tries to fend off a vicious biker gang from destroying her property on the instructions of spoilt brat faced rich kid Ben Brandt, wonderfully played by Billy Magnussen who seems to stealing all the villain roles since his turn in the last Bond film No Time To Die.

There are a lot of cheesy bar fight scenes in Road House and the dialogue is naturally not top notch, but Road House is a perfectly entertaining action film to watch especially if viewers are a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal.

The love interest in the film is the local nurse Ellie played by Portuguese actress Daniela Melchior and her corrupt Sheriff father is played by a fellow Portuguese actor Joaquim de Almeida (Fast Five, Desperado, The Hitman’s Bodyguard).

Gyllenhaal plays against type and seeks some of his inner demons which he displayed so brilliantly in the excellent Dan Gilroy 2014 film Nightcrawler, except that he is too good an actor to really be appearing in flashy 1980’s remakes but fortunately his talent and leading man appeal saves Road House from becoming completely disastrous.

Road House is a thrilling action film with a standard storyline of hero comes to town to save the town folk from evil villains except this time the town is in the gorgeous and sultry Florida Keys. Thankfully film makers can do so much with such a tropical location and it’s perfect for complex action sequences involving ski boats and high ways just like in the Bad Boys franchise.

Road House gets a film rating of 6.5 out of 10, it’s not going to win any awards but it is a great way to spend two hours on a rainy afternoon if viewers are looking for a decent film on the streaming sites.

The 96th Academy Awards took place on Sunday 10th March 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Here are all the winners:

Best Picture: Oppenheimer

Best Director: Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer

Best Actor: Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer

Best Actress: Emma Stone – Poor Things

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jnr – Oppenheimer

Best Supporting Actress: Davine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers

Best Original Screenplay: Justine Triet & Arthur Harari – Anatomy of a Fall

Best Adapted Screenplay: Cord Jefferson – American Fiction

Best Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema – Oppenheimer

Best Costume Design: Holly Waddington – Poor Things

Best Make up & Hairstyling: Poor Things

Best Visual Effects: Godzilla minus One

Best Film Editing: Jennifer Lame – Oppenheimer

Best Sound: The Zone of Interest

Best Production Design: Poor Things

Best Documentary Feature:  20 days in Mariupol directed by Mstyslav Chernov (Ukraine)

Best Documentary Short Subject: The Repair Shop directed by Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot

Best Original Score: Ludwig Goransson – Oppenheimer

Best Original Song: “What was I made for?” by Billie Eilish & Fineas – Barbie

Best Animated Feature Film: The Boy and the Heron directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)

Best Live Action Short Film: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar directed by Wes Anderson

Best International Feature Film: The Zone of Interest directed by Jonathan Glazer (United Kingdom) – Film in German with English subtitles.

The Bricklayer

Director: Renny Harlin

Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Nina Dobrev, Clifton Collins Jr, Tim Blake Nelson, Ifenesh Hadera, Ori Pfeffer

Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Millennium Media the film production company behind the Expendables franchise, delivers another paint by numbers action film this time with strong man Aaron Eckhart as the spy hero Steve Vail as the Philadelphia based “Bricklayer” in the new Renny Harlin directed film The Bricklayer also starring Nina Dobrev as Kate Bannon and the superb character actor Tim Blake Nelson (Nightmare Alley) as their CIA director O’Malley.

The Bricklayer is set in Thelassoniki in Greece and features Bannon and Vail as two completely different CIA operative who arrive in Greek port city to hunt the elusive villain Victor Radek, flamboyantly played by Clifton Collins Jr sporting a black bowler hat. Radek is seeking revenge against the American spy agency based in Langley, Virginia as he blames them for the death of his wife and child so he is executing certain key journalists as part of a larger strategy to assassinate the Greek deputy foreign minister.

Before the tough Vail and the rookie Bannon can make inroads in locating Radek they first have to deal with a Greek gangster Denis Stefanopoulos played complete with flashy suits and gold chains by Israeli actor Ori Pfeffer (Hacksaw Ridge, The Hitman’s Bodyguard).

Aaron Eckhart is having an interesting career having starred in both high profile films like Christopher Nolan’s the Batman Trilogy and in some quirky American films like Thank You for Smoking to Oscar winning films like Erin Brokovich, but he appears to be going the same route as Scottish star and action hero Gerard Butler which will always pay the bills and keep audiences satisfied.

The Bricklayer does not have a clear storyline but the action is solid, a sort of medium budget spy film and is saved by a salvageable onscreen chemistry between the two lead stars. Bulgarian actress Nina Dobrev (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, XXX: The Return of Xander Cage) holds her own as the female heroine and possible love interest although in The Bricklayer the script focuses more on the action and fighting sequences than any romance.

Capote star Clifton Collins Jr is perfect as the duplicitous villain Radek and Tim Blake Nelson has the best lines in the film as the stroppy non-nonsense CIA director O’Malley.

If audiences enjoy a great action film set in Greece, then The Bricklayer is recommended viewing and proves that the 56 year old actor Aaron Eckhart can hold his own as muscular action star.

The Bricklayer gets a film rating of 6.5 out of 10 and won’t win any awards except some for corny images of American patriotism. It’s an entertaining action film which what the Los Angeles based Production Company Millennium Media always delivers.

The 77th British Academy Film Awards, also known as the BAFAs, were held on 18th February 2024 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2023.

Best Film: Oppenheimer

Best Director: Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer

Best Actor: Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer

Best Actress: Emma Stone – Poor Things

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey, Jnr – Oppenheimer

Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers

Outstanding British Film: Zone of Interest directed by Jonathan Glazer

Best Film not in the English Language: Zone of Interest directed by Jonathan Glazer

Best Original Screenplay: Anatomy of a Fall

Best Adapted Screenplay: American Fiction

Best Cinematography: Oppenheimer

Best Costume Design: Poor Things

Best Hair and Make up: Poor Things

Best Production Design: Poor Things

Best Sound: The Zone of Interest

Rising Star Award: Mia McKenna-Bruce

Dune Part Two

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Walken, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgard, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Lea Seydoux, Souhella Yacoub

Running time: 2 hours 46 minutes

Film Rating: 9 out of 10

Gathering an ensemble cast of exceptionally talented actors and then throwing in the hottest stars of the 2020’s, Dune Part Two is almost symbolic of the old guard of actors handing the mantel to the new hugely talented tribe of hot young stars from Zendaya to Timothee Chalamet, from Florence Pugh to Austin Butler.

Paul Atreides after suffering the defeat of his royal house in Dune Part 1, hides with the fremen people in Arrakis with his mother Lady Jessica, played by Rebecca Ferguson, as they battle a Harkonnen ambush who are desperate to annihilate the Fremen and take over the lucrative spice mining of the desert planet.

As Lady Jessica goes through the process of transforming into the Reverend Mother, she drinks from the Water of Life which is a process fatal to men. While Lady Jessica is secretly manipulating her son to grasp complete power, Paul is distracted by his love affair with Chani played by Zendaya.

Meanwhile in the House of Harkonnen, the Baron wonderfully played with a gloating evil by Stellan Skarsgard gives full power to his younger psychotic nephew Feyd-Rautha a viciously appropriate performance by Oscar nominee Austin Butler (Elvis), who shines in the spectacularly shot gladiator scenes in the bizarre celebrations of his birthday.

Dune Part Two is slow moving in the first part of the film especially with Atreides acclimatizing to the ways of the desert bound Fremen tribes, but once Austin Butler appears in the film as the hero’s demonic nemesis then the pace of the film increases exponentially.

The Emperor Shaddam IV regally played by Oscar winner Christopher Walken and his daughter the princess Irulan Corrino played by Florence Pugh are lured into a trap to come to Arrakis then Paul Atreides decides to meet his destiny as he takes on the Harkonnen and their boss The Emperor while discovering a genealogical secret that bounds his mother to the malignant portentous Baron Harkonnen.

The second half of Dune Part Two is where Denis Villeneuve excels as a director as he creates these epic battle sequences involving the spice worms, the clash of the royal galactic houses and a fight to the death by the carries of two of the most vital bloodlines in Dune, Paul Atreides and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, both virile young men in their prime ready to defend their houses and seek a match that will fortify their power.

The supporting cast of Dune Part Two is superb ranging from Charlotte Rampling to Javier Bardem, from Bond girl Lea Seydoux (No Time to Die) to Josh Brolin, but as a cinematic epic, this film is a mesmerizing tale of retribution, power and the abandonment of the indigenous population for a greater self-enrichment by those more powerful and affluent.

Adding a pulsating score by Hans Zimmer and gorgeously lit cinematography by Greig Fraser as he clearly delineates the differences between the Fremen and the people of the South, between the Harkonnen, vicious and abundant and the wealthy Emperor and his beautiful daughter Princess Irulan Corrino, Dune Part Two is the first major cinematic event of 2024 and is highly recommended viewing.

If you love science fiction, then this film must be seen on the biggest screen possible. It truly is magnificent and visually alluring, complete with superior production design especially in the brutal Harkonnen gladiator scenes.

Dune Part Two gets a film rating of 9 out of 10 and does perfect justice to the novels by Frank Herbert. Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve achieves the majestic and creates an allegorical tale set in the shadows of Arrakis about neo-colonization, revenge and rivalry, while showcasing how vulnerable men can be when absolute power is their wily seducer.