Category: REVIEWS

Inna De Yard: The BRWC Review. By Halli Burton.

In his song Trenchtown Rock, the late great Bob Marley chanted “One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain”.  

Inna de Yard, a documentary written and directed by British filmmaker Peter Webb (Girl With a Pearl Earring), is much like that song in that it’s a joyful ode to reggae music. More specifically, it’s a celebration of roots reggae, a sub-genre that acted as a voice piece for ostracised Rastas in the 1960s and 70s to spread cultural, spiritual and political messages to the masses.

The film is set against a picturesque backdrop of rural Jamaica, and starkly juxtaposed with the lasting effects of colonialism, namely poverty and violence, that continue to plague this enchanting Caribbean island.

Inna de Yard follows several pioneers of reggae as they embark on a project to reversion some of their classic hits to create an acoustic album that climaxes in an historic concert in Paris, France. The line up is impressive by any standard, with veterans Ken ‘Everything I Own’ Boothe and Judy Mowatt – a member of Bob Marley’s iconic backing group the I Threes, and less well-known artists Cedric Myton, Kiddus I and Winston McAnuff. The album recording takes place in a studio in Stony Hill on the outskirts of Jamaica’s capital, Kingston. 

The film effortlessly entwines epic archive clips with current footage resulting in compelling storytelling. I wondered what the artists were thinking when watching their younger selves at the top of their game, performing on stage, recording in the studio or appearing in cult cinema, as was the case for Kiddus I who had a starring role in the 1970s cult classic Rockers. 

Through a traditional fog of marijuana smoke, the musicians share tales about their life’s trials, love and losses. Kiddus I laments about his failed music career following deportation from the US. Winston McAnuff gets teary when speaking about his 25 year old son Matthew who was knifed to death in 2012. Cedric Myton, the adorable falsetto-voiced singer, speaks about his beloved Jamaica and family abroad (he has 11 children!), while Ken Boothe opens up about his past drug abuse and his devotion to his long-suffering wife.

On a lighter note, the elders also impart their wisdom and passion to the younger generation of reggae artists, in this instance Derajah and Jah9, the latter who records a beautiful song, Black Woman, with Judy Mowatt. 

Inna de Yard is an enjoyable finger-clicking celebration of reggae music and is on general UK release on 30 August.

Playmobil: The Movie – Review.

Marla (Anya Taylor-Joy) is forced to abandon her carefully structured life to embark on an epic journey to find her younger brother Charlie (Gabriel Bateman) who has disappeared into the vast and wondrous animated world of Playmobil toys.

In the past few years in cinema, a whole bunch of studios have been attempting to make successful feature films based on toys ever since the massive hit that was 2014’s The LEGO Movie. Not only did the audiences fall in love with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s animated picture, but the majority of critics did as well, proving that strong and amazing stories can be told on toys, besides the Toy Story movies.

We have already received a feature this year based on a famous toy line, UglyDolls, and in the near future we are getting a live action Barbie starring Margot Robbie as the titular character. Does Playmobil: The Movie follow the trend of LEGO Movie with a great sense of humor, fun and exciting story, and good characters? Unfortunately not.

By far the biggest issue with Playmobil is its complete lack of heart and its sense of fun is strangely minimal. Something that this film and the aforementioned LEGO Movie have in common, is that there are certain sequences in which we will cut to a fully live action shot with no animation being involved. In fact, the opening to this film is Anya Taylor-Joy’s Marla talking to herself about how her hopes and dreams. This storyline does not really go anywhere unfortunately, and everytime they cut back to this, it seemed quite forced and unnecessary for the type of movie they were going for. While Taylor-Joy is good in the movie, her character should have had a lot more development to make her more interesting.

I was at least hoping that the moments with the titular toys would be funny or entertaining to watch but they just were not. All of the comedy present in these scenes are aimed towards extremely young kids, and anybody above the age of four will find them tired and frustrating. Disney and Pixar are two companies that never fail to impress with this element. Their humor never panders towards children, but instead manages to be funny for audiences of all ages.

Even the times in which we follow the Playmobil characters on their various adventures in the animation medium come across as nothing more than scenes that are there in hopes to entertain young children, with no real emotional connection present. There were only a couple of good moments involved in which there was some fun to be had, but it was quite blatant to me while watching that this picture was made to simply sell toys, which it more than likely will.

In addition, the animation is quite exceptional for the most part. The toys in the film look exactly like the real life Playmobil toys look like, and the attention to detail on some of them is quite good, though it is nowhere near as greatly detailed or animated as Toy Story 4 or Incredibles 2 to name a few.

Playmobil: The Movie is an unexciting and disappointingly unfunny tale that only the youngest of children will get a kick out of.

Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan Review.

Depicting the horrors of the Vietnam War has been the goal of some of the finest films ever to grace the silver screen. Each one of them has told of its needlessness and violence without holding back. Now it is time for Australia to properly add its voice to this medium of storytelling on the topic. “Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan” recalls the battle that saw 108 brave ANZAC soldiers, many of whom were conscripts, take on an estimated Viet Cong force of over 1000 in the rubber plantation of Long Tan during the Vietnam War.

It is a story that often falls on deaf ears due to it being the most unpopular war in the history of Australia. However, that makes it only all the more important to tell. Director Kriv Stenders tasked himself with glorifying and further immortalising these men, and when all is said and done, I believe he has done just that. 

The story from a historical standpoint is relatively accurate and straightforward in its approach. From a character standpoint, the men come off as both familiar and unique at the same time. The archetypes form quickly. For instance, Travis Fimmel’s redemption character Major Harry Smith and Richard Roxburgh’s grizzled and stubborn Brigadier David Jackson, but the way Stenders has opted to present them is refreshing.

Within this context, we are subject to an atmosphere riddled with Australian colloquialisms and classic humour that manages to shine enough new light on these familiar individuals. The performances enhance this to no end, with the aforementioned Fimmel and Roxburgh being standouts in an excellent ensemble. Luke Bracey is also worth mentioning as Sergeant Bob Buick. He nails the endearing war hero so well that I believe this is the best performance of his young career. 

Strangely enough, the highest praise I can give the performances is that most of them are underwhelming throughout the opening. It is hard to say why this is, possibly the distinctly Australian tone clashing with the setting, or challenges with production allocating time to filming this section. Regardless this evolves into a miraculous strength. The emotional bonds that are able to form as the story progresses combine with this shaky beginning to further emphasise the growth of the characters.

The primary goal of this movie, as it is with most war movies, is to make clear that one of the significant casualties of war is youth just as much as lives. Seeing these young men, each of whom is inspired by their real-life counterpart, forced to evolve so drastically is what makes Danger Close the pleasant tribute that it is. Once the battle begins, their baptism of fire becomes the films greatest asset and sparks the characters to life as they embrace their tragedy.

With the depiction of the battle, Stenders has opted to be as direct as possible. Which serves to honour the heroes to no end; however, it does feel as though it is something we have seen before. The lifelessness of the enemy becomes a slight issue, and the violent impact is lacking in certain key moments. The initial period of the battle begins with a bang, but it can’t help but stagnate as it drags on.

There was no genuine attempt to break new ground within the genre, which is a shame because I think those involved were more than capable of achieving that. Thankfully the emotional impact doesn’t suffer because of this, that aspect remains firmly intact thanks to the exceptional performances. When the few moments where the combat and the emotion combine come around the most stimulating portions of the entire film play and form the most respectful Australian film tribute to its heroes in years. 

There are two technical aspects of this film that are entirely mesmerising throughout with how beautiful they are. The cinematography of Ben Nott and Caitlin Yeo’s score combine to form some gorgeous moments briefly reminiscent of the stunning images and music of “The Thin Red Line”. These two aspects are just as crucial to expressing emotion as the performances are, and when they all come together, it is impossible not to be impressed.

It is a depiction of war that, at times, is violent and aggressive, yet, at least on the Australian side of things, is not exploitation depicting mindless drones of war. Stenders most prominent success on his end is that he ensured each brave Australian is a Man first and a soldier second, something that is so easy to miss in war films.

As the credits roll, I think anyone who sees Danger Close will be left dwelling on the typical giant questions like “Why were we there?” and “Was it worth it?”. However, above all else, they will think upon the battle of Long Tan and how young conscripts made the impossible possible. All involved should take a bow for telling the story as respectfully as they have. The stunning technical achievements and the supremely respectful performances elevate Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan above its run of the mill storytelling.

Power Of Grayskull: Review

I’m not old enough to remember the Masters of the Universe when they were first a thing, but I have a very strong memory of playing with the toys. I remember playing with He-Man and Skeletor, and the big plastic Castle Grayskull that opened up on hinges that, for some reason, my nan had gotten from a charity to shop or something to keep myself and my brother entertained when we would stay. They weren’t in the best condition, for example He-Man himself only had one arm, but my brother and always found a lot of fun in them.

I’m not even sure, thinking back on it, that we were actually even aware of what they were. At least not at first. I don’t remember He-Man as a cartoon being a particularly big thing in my house, and I definitely seem to remember calling Skeletor Doctor Skull in our games, which seems to suggest I didn’t know his name.

In fact, my knowledge of He-Man so non-existent that when I first discovered the film, Masters of the Universe, made by the infamous half-measures production company Canon Films, I was unaware of its connection. Canon Films’ Masters of the Universe was one of those movies we had recorded off the TV that my brother and I watched on lazy Sunday mornings, but we were hardly mega-fans of it, and we always sort of gleefully enjoyed its rubbishness.

I guess all of this is a very long winded and round about way of explaining that my knowledge of the Masters of the Universe extends about as a far as that Canon Film, and I’ve never been overly all that interested in trying to find out more. So, Randall Lobb and Robert McCallum’s 2017 feature length documentary, Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, is hardly what I would call necessary viewing… at least, not for me.

It was something of a surprise, then, when I found myself engrossed in the story the documentary had to offer.

As it turns out, the history of this particular franchise is long, complicated and unusual. It makes for a unique story among this kind of franchise creation, with several different elements and creatives involved. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the He-Man creation “myth” is the way in which, instead of being born from a singular voice and refined later, it was instead grown out of a series of decisions made my different people in different parts of the process.

The film itself does a fine, if not somewhat generic, job of getting its points across. It’s a well made and efficient documentary, made up predominantly of talking heads with the various important people in He-Man’s evolution, and it spans the entire breadth of the franchise’s history, from its initial beginnings as a simple toy line, through to the aforementioned Canon Films detour and on into the modern era and the recent reboot. It delivers the story in a purely chronological fashion, which is a wise, if not somewhat uninspired, move.

When it comes to films like this it’s always a little difficult to fairly judge some of the creative films. As a documentary it follows documentary tropes closely, never doing anything too interesting or eye-catching… but then, that’s sort of just what the film needs. It’s formal look and approach means that the focus is more on the unfolding story and experiences of those involved in the history that is the focus of the film.

As far as presentation goes, it delivers on its titular promise. This is most definitely a definitive history, covering all aspects, and the story itself is engaging enough to keep you gripped and curious about how it will all unfold, so unusual as it is.

Ultimately it’s not really breaking any new ground, and no one is going to be stepping away from this with a feeling that they’ve discovered the next great documentary, but I would be lying to say that I didn’t find it incredibly interesting, and that I wasn’t hooked. In fact, I was kind of disappointed when it drew to a close and didn’t really cover any aspect of the recently proposed Masters of the Universe big screen reboot.

I came away from Power of Grayskull with a newfound appreciation for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, despite having never been all that interested in the franchise before. Not only did it trigger a warm sense of nostalgia in me, reminding me of those battered and rubbished toys at my Nan’s house, but it also made me appreciate just how unique the franchise is among modern franchises and, for that at least, it’s worth your time.

Woodstock or Bust is the feature debut from director Leslie Bloom and co-writer Judi Blaze. The story revolves around Lorian (Willow Shields) and Meryl (Meg DeLacy) as they prepare themselves for a once in a lifetime trip to Woodstock to kickstart their careers as singer/songwriters.

The film takes them on a road trip where they encounter lots of new people, experiences good and bad and find out more about themselves and each other as underlying tensions start to rise in their friendship that they always believed was really close.

However, the film is not just a light hearted road trip filled with moments of female empowerment. The filmmakers take the time to talk about the issues that were surrounding America at the time, particularly in reference to the Vietnam war, setting the film apart from other films set in this period that may want to just focus on the peace, love and good times.

Instead, the film portrays a more realistic view of what it was like to live in the latter part of the sixties and how the political background was playing on young minds.

Shields and DeLacy play well against each other and although their tight bond may seem forced at times their chemistry is evident, making the audience hope for the strength of their friendship to pull them through hard times. Along the way, the pair encounter many kinds of people but the film never treats them like a particular type of teenager, giving both Lorian and Meryl their own distinct personalities.

This is in no doubt down to the lead’s fine performances, which make them both stand out at different time when the story requires it of them.

Woodstock or Bust is a breezy summer film that sometimes takes its audience down paths that they weren’t expecting and the film is all the better for it. There are times were the political commentary may seem a little heavy handed but the bond between the aspiring musicians is what really drives the film. Director Leslie Bloom clearly had a vision when making the film and it very much comes across as a teenage Thelma and Louise, being able to talk about the bond between women and some of the darker issues that are as relevant now as they were in the Sixties.

A charming film with a great soundtrack and some wonderful performances, both dramatically and vocally, with some original songs that you may find humming to yourself long after the film has finished.