Jake (Devin Druid) has had a hard life, as most would have had growing up in the old west. When he was young, his parents were killed when their family home was raided by bandits, leaving Jake alone with his brother, Duncan (Zachary Knighton).
Years later, Jake meets the Dalton gang and seeing as they’re a man short after a gunfight, they coerce Jake into helping them rob a train, despite Duncan’s objections. Seeing no other choice, Duncan joins them, but after the robbery goes wrong, Duncan is wounded.
To top it all off they also find a woman named Pearl (Natasha Bassett) inside a chest that they steal and she tells them that if they take her home then they will be greatly rewarded.
When they get there, they are greeted warmly by a group of women who seem to be the only residents in town. Nonetheless, the gang soon settle down and indulge themselves in what the town has to offer, including the women. However, when the women find out that Jake has never taken a life and is a virgin, they reveal their true forms to horrifying effect.
The Pale Door is a Western horror story coming exclusively to Shudder which may be a little difficult to talk about considering its twist. Starting out as a typical western, the world built is something that fully tells its audience that this is the Old West. However, The Pale Door is on Shudder, so despite initial impressions, you may know that something supernatural is about to happen.
The plot could be likened in structure to another bandit themed movie with a horror twist from the Nineties, but again that would also give away too much of the twist. Let’s just say that those who wish to watch The Pale Door may enjoy it best by knowing very little about it.
Unfortunately, this may put some people off though as there is a long wait until the action starts and when it does it may leave some people disappointed. There are some good effects and fans of body horror may be pleased by the inventive deaths, but in the end The Pale Door feels like a great premise wasted on something that takes too long to get going.
Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan – Review. By Trent Neely.
This documentary details the life and career of Shane MacGowan, infamous Irish poet and lead singer of The Pogues. Spanning MacGowan’s early days growing up on a farm in Tipperary Ireland to the present day, the film serves both as an expose on what led to MacGowan becoming the influential figure he became, and a retrospective on what his lasting legacy for the genre of punk music and the Irish people has been.
The film particularly shines in its first half, detailing Shane’s upbringing in Ireland to his emergence on the punk scene with The Pogues in England. With a combination of interviews, archival footage, dramatizations, and clever short animations, director Julien Temple, editor Caroline Richards, and the rest of the crew do a great job of making sure that the film remains engaging despite the heavy amount of exposition present. Especially considering that MacGowan himself is shown to be resistant to prompts from interviewers when asked direct questions.
When he does answer, it is short, blunt and unashamed in its reveal of a man who has fully pushed life to the edge. Yet despite their simple delivery, most of MacGowan’s statements offer layered insight into music, history, society and his own behavior. As we hear him talk about exploring the Irish countryside in his youth, enjoying his first drinks with family and hearing Irish poetry around town, MacGowan’s love for the Irish culture and its legacy is made perfectly clear.
MacGowan’s art is not entirely defined by romance and nostalgia however. Archival footage and interviewees illustrate how strong the conflict between the English and the Irish was during the 20th century. MacGowan himself talks about how he was isolated and bullied when his family came to England due to the fact that they were Irish. MacGowan is portrayed in the film as feeling almost duty bound to proudly proclaim his heritage, revitalize Irish music, and also use it to help bring awareness to the strife and complexity of the Irish people worldwide.
These historical facets illustrate quite effectively that an artist and art itself is not only formed by talent, but the circumstances and times in which the artist and art are crafted. When considering this cultural context, the audience comes to understand why his songs evocative of Irish music of the past were both so beloved by fans and so meaningful to MacGowan himself, he wasn’t just making music for himself, he was making it for Ireland.
The second half of the film details MacGowan’s life as he battles addiction and wrestles with the increased commercial nature of his music, feeling pressure to write songs that top the charts and play well in various markets. While the first half’s foundation helps the audience understand why Macgowan became so frustrated and depressed by his lack of artistic creativity and integrity, MacGowan’s purpose was to revitalize a genre and celebrate a culture not to just make money after all.
Audiences familiar with the stories surrounding artists damaged by addictive tendencies and embittered by the profit-centric mindset of the music industry may find that the second half of the film drags slightly and be somewhat derivative in format. Though it does serve to paint a full picture of who MacGowan is, celebrating him for all his idiosyncrasies and complexities.
If you are looking for a film that shows how time, history, culture, and tradition can influence art and a story of how art can help someone find their voice and speak about what matters to them, watch this film if given a chance.
Wonder Woman 1984: The BRWC Review. By Alif Majeed.
After watching Avengers Endgame, you realize that it would be hard to top that movie in a long while. Especially now, with Marvel focusing as much on their TV shows and the DC universe, it is hellbent on steering its superhero movies into TV shows or giving it the small screen treatment. But I’m happy to say that WW84 makes a case for solo hero movies, which does not hold back with spectacle and creates a sequel that mostly works.
I was apprehensive when the movie started, as it opens with a Quidditch cum Hunger Games like contest set among the Amazonian where special effects looked pretty quizzical. As the scene progressed, though, I felt myself getting caught with the escalating spectacle.
One thing that bothered me when I knew Chris Pine was returning was how they planned to bring back Steve Trevor. Dead characters coming back is not that unusual in the comics, and Steve has come back from the dead in the books, but you do wonder how it would convince on screen. Thankfully, they got him back in a way that makes sense and is in line with what was happening in the movie.
After Wonder Woman thwarts a robbery in a mall, the Smithsonian Institute, where she works under her Diana Prince identity, comes in possession of some rare artifacts, including an ancient one that seems to have some strange powers. Pretty soon, it catches the attention of Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a TV millionaire hiding a lot more than he lets on and desperately wanting the artifact for himself.
Kooky artifacts asides, a large part of what works in the movie is the cast and how invested they are in what is happening. Gal Gadot has long become the face of the DC universe, and this movie makes it clear that it will remain so for quite a while. She is the living, breathing center of the film, and, to her credit, she lets none of the supporting cast upstage her even while remaining secure and gracious with others getting their place under the sun.
As Steve Trevor, Chris Pine is one of the better superheroes’ other halves, and you are glad seeing him in Diana’s corner. There is a scene where Steve Trevor and Diane Lane are trying to break into a building to investigate the artifact. The moment he sees the entrance locked, he immediately lets Diane do the honors without an iota of ego or a misplaced sense of masculinity.
Here is a guy who knows his place, which makes it satisfying to see him know precisely when to take charge, even coming to her rescue when she needs it. There may be a time when Diane gets together with other people with Steve long becoming a footnote, but the pleasure and clear love Patty Jenkins and the team had for this couple shows.
The secret weapon of the movie is an effective Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva, aka Cheetah. Actors who are known for their comedic talents tend to add their quirks and personality to the character. Or try to adlib their way through many of their lines, which sometimes come across as showy. Many may not agree with me, but I was grateful that she plays the character straight because she could have gone overboard to Jim Carrey in Batman Returns level proportions.
Speaking of Jim Carrey’s Tommy Lee Jones, Pedro Pascal plays the big bad in a role supposed to have been offered to Tom Cruise first. That is not surprising as Maxwell Lord appears as a cross between Lex Luthor and Donald Trump bunny looped with Tom Cruise. (Or at least Christian Bale’s interpretation of him in American Psycho). To his credit, even when he is hamming his way around the character, Pedro Pascal holds your attention and sometimes even your sympathy. It is also quite a pleasure to see Maxwell going all out with the artifact and its powers and Wonder Woman trying to stop him with some help from Steve Trevor.
Despite a lot of what works in the movie, there are still things that don’t. For example, the special effects in some places, especially during the climax boss fight between Cheetah (Kristen Wiig) and Wonder Woman, threatens to derail the movie. It almost did for the prequel where the climactic battle looked out of place with the rest of the film, and the same thing happens here.
And the rules about how the artifact works and what powers it is also a bit confusing. There were at least a couple of times where I caught myself asking, “Wait, what are the rules of that thing again?”. But it is easy to let go of the nitpicking when you realize that what you are watching is a pretty fun movie.
It is a real shame that the movie would not get a full release in the theaters in some regions. Giving the present situation that might be what the future business model will be but WW84 does make a case for the theatre spectacle. It deserves to be seen in the theatres as it is a real big event blockbuster that needs the big screen treatment.
Australian cinema is oftentimes its own worst enemy, and it comes down to a multitude of reasons as to why. Primarily Australian cinemas biggest sin is that the largest and most prominent domestic films are shameless tourist advertisements like “Palm Beach” and “Top End Wedding”. Any and all films Screen Australia have produced in this vein have been heavily flawed and barely worthwhile. However, in-between our homegrown misfires, lie a collection of rare gems that prove Australia to be home to stories the rest of the world could never tell. Films like “Picnic at Hanging Rock” or “Lion”, even “The Castle”, these films capture our culture as it is to us, not how Screen Australia would like it presented to tourists. Robert Connelly newest feature “The Dry” is one such gem which displays our culture with pitch-perfect, often unsettling, realism.
Based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Jane Harper, The Dry is an unnerving thriller set firmly in the Victorian outback in the fictional town of Kiewarra. There we join Aaron Falk (Eric Bana and Joe Klocek) a federal police officer who was raised there now returning twenty years after his dramatic departure. Unfortunately, it’s tragedy which beckons him home. He arrives to join residents at the funeral of his childhood best friend, Luke (portrayed as a teen by Sam Corlett), and his wife and son, both of whom Luke is accused of murdering before committing suicide. Aaron, plagued by memories of his youth telling of when another one of his three closest friends, Ellie (BeBe Bettencourt), his teenage love, was found dead in a river, must now try to find the truth in a town hiding more than anyone could bear to find out.
The dilemma for Aaron quickly becomes clear, he is desperate to prove that his closest friend isn’t a killer, but the weight upon his shoulders becomes much more amplified than that. Luke and Aaron shared a secret, one pertaining to Ellie’s death twenty years earlier. And soon those hidden truths twist themselves into doubt, if Luke could be involved back then, what’s stopping him from being so twisted now. Stuck in an almost literal melting pot during bush fire season Aaron must then convince the town and himself that Kiewarra’s latest horror is not as it seems.
This all plays out in the vast and spectacular environment of regional Victoria, which through the lens of Stefan Duscio becomes utterly sublime. The landscapes of The Dry are its greatest asset. It grounds all the high drama in an area so wrought by destructive natural forces that the tragic losses of life are almost just another element of the curse that seems to plague the town. Aaron does plenty of soul-searching in the wilderness, trying to piece together how someone as charming and beautiful as Ellie could die when they seemed so ready to be together, and aching to know if the secret he keeps could solve the mystery.
Ultimately the harsh environment moulds his visage, he’s hard and stoic, often visibly keeping his emotions withdrawn, leaving only a bleakness. Here is where Connelly weaves his most potent moments, cutting between the adult Aaron grasping for any answers and the teen Aaron hooked on life and enjoying it to the fullest with his three friends unknowingly on the brink of catastrophe.
Of course, that means one childhood friend remains, her name is Gretchen (Genevieve O’Reilly and Claude Scott-Mitchell), and in the years following Ellie’s death she dated Luke on and off before he met his wife and she fell pregnant to another man no longer around. In the present, she represents a living ghost to Aaron, someone he desperately wants to hold onto but can never manage to grasp; a forgotten memory. O’Reilly develops this into a refined and nuanced performance, one that keeps the film flowing across its perhaps very slightly overlong runtime of just under 2 hours. Alongside hers, Bana’s is an interesting performance. It’s never easy to capture a character who wraps everything up inside.
So rarely does Aaron emote that his one burst of anger at the lack of water running from his shower comes as quite a shock. However, I do think there is one scene Bana ties all his work together. There’s a moment where Aaron has nothing left to do but to soak in a particular revelation, and the sheer weight of it is masterfully captured in his eyes as he gazes out to the natural wonder that surrounds him in his isolation. He is left only with his memories, and instead of running from them or breaking down, he simply sits and breaths and stares into the infinite. It may not be the flashiest performance, but during this moment, it is a powerful one.
The Dry is a film that perfectly encapsulates what gritty Australian storytelling should be, bound to nature and wrapped in secrecy, and thanks to an abundance of each, it’s well on its way to becoming an Aussie classic.
Chubby is a short film by Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer. It premiered on October 2, 2019 at the Vancour International Film Festival where it was nominated for the “Best Canadian Short”.
In others festivals Chubby won “Special Mention” at the Loudoun Arts Film Festival, “Silver Dragon” at the Krakow Film Festival and “Canadian Film Fest Special Jury Award” at the Canadian Film Fes as well as numerous nominations.
In this 21-minutes film, two time lines intertwine.
In the first one we follow Jude, a 10 year old girl (played by Maya Harman) and her uncle Noah (played by Jesse LaVercombe).
During the first moments of the film, we can think we are dealing with a completely banal relationship between an uncle and his niece.
But we quickly understand that the hold that Noah is developing on Jude is terrible and inappropriate.
As the minutes go by, an unhealthy atmosphere emerges from the conversation between them. They will start a game of dare that will bring the unthinkable.
In the second time line, which takes place some time later, we are immersed in a Christmas family dinner, the meal is being prepared and we wait for Noah’s arrival.
In this part, Jude will act in a very dangerous way towards a young boy of her family. During a so-called game, she will try to suffocate him with a plastic bag. This scene, which lasts only a few seconds, seems endless and is really disturbing.
Following this attempt to suffocate, the tension rises gradually between the different members of the family.
The direction of Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer works very well and makes the film look very realistic. Which, to be honest, is a good point for the film but a bad one for the viewer. Whether it’s during the game of dare or during the choking of the little one, the scenes are really heavy to watch and scary.
But the realistic aspect of this film is also induced by the incredible performance of Maya Harman, who despite her young age knew how to perfectly interpret such a sensitive subject. Jesse LaVercombe’s performance is also impressive, indeed, it can’t be easy to put oneself in the shoes of such a character.
This film makes us realize that danger can come from anywhere, even from an uncle, who is quite young and seems to be appreciated by the whole family. It also emphasizes the victim’s difficulty in speaking about it. And the guilt that overwhelms them when they have to put words on these horrors.
Chubby is frighteningly realistic, the film tackles a very sensitive subject in a very incisive and thoughtful way.
