Produced by: Guymon Casady, David Leitch, Kelly McCormick
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke, Zara Michales, Ben Knight.
‘I’m just the stunt guy.’
Ryan Gosling as stunt man Colt Seavers to super star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) brings back the adorable to a tough guy role, ‘Did she say anything about me?’
Because after Colt breaks his back during a stunt on set, he disappears from his girlfriend, camera person, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt).
Colt changes his number.
He gets a job parking cars.
Then Colt gets called back to work by Tom’s agent Gail (Hannah Waddingham) directed by none other than his ex, Jody.
Gail tells him Jody wants him back.
Colt definitely wants her back.
He just doesn’t know how to say it. He just does things like cry his eyes out to Taylor Swift and pulls the tie under Jody’s gardening hat snug under her chin.
Did I say adorable?
I was surprised about how much of this movie is a romance between these two: stunt man and camera person turned director.
And as advertised, The Fall Guy is also a stunt movie, based on the TV series from the 80s, filmed in Sydney Australia which is pretty cool, with so very many explosions and I have to say terrible humour.
Think a Post-it note with, ‘Sell cockatoo’ written on one side and on the other, ‘Buy koala.’
The Aussie references hit like a lead balloon.
And the not so subtle dual meaning of the movie storyline and romance was overcooked, as was the fast forward dialogue. It felt like there was one speed and it was run around, talk fast at highly agitated levels and again, explosions. It was too much.
Colt when tied up and trying to talk his way out even talks about movies made with ‘too much.’
But I have to say those hesitations and head flicks from Gosling added just the right amount of giggle because it was subtle.
And yes, the addition of a unicorn to illustrate Colt’s state of mind was clever and genuinely funny.
So, yes there’s a lot of fun here, but unlike the stunts, not all the humour landed.
Produced by: Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner, David Heyman, Margot Robbie
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Dupa Lipa and Helen Mirren.
Because Barbie can be anything, women can be anything – right?
Set in a world where every day is the ‘best day ever,’ Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) wakes up every morning with a smile on her face and tiptoes.
It’s all hanging out with the girls, impromptu musical numbers, Ken (Ryan Gosling) obsessed and only alive in the gaze of Barbie and Barbies’ ruling the world and perfect sunny weather with nothing but blue skies day, after day, after day…
Until those irrepressible thoughts of death invade Stereotypical Barbie’s peace of mind.
It’s time to go visit. Weird Barbie, AKA Gymnast Barbie (Kate McKinnon).
An outcast in Barbie Land, Weird Barbie is forever doing the splits and keeps a dog that pooh’s hard plastic pellets (this is an actual creation where you lever the tail and the dog pooh’s – tee hee).
Gymnast Barbie knows what’s wrong because that’s how she became, weird. Once upon a time her owner, a young girl going through a punk phase, decided her Barbie should have her hair hacked and face… changed.
Stereotypical Barbie’s human must be doing something similar but instead of angry, this human’s world is falling apart and the emotions are starting to influence the Barbie.
The only way to stop the dark thoughts and get Barbie’s feet where they should be is to find the person who’s having the thoughts. It’s time to leave Barbie Land and enter the human world.
But Barbie? In the real world? It’s not going to end well.
‘It’s a repeat of Skipper in Key West,’ says CEO (Will Farrell) of Mattel (which for some reason still cracks me up).
It’s not long before Barbie is arrested and of course Ken’s along for the ride because he can’t be without Barbie.
And she might need someone who specialises in ‘Beach’.
Instead of the idealised matriarchal world they expected, Barbie and Ken soon realise that men are raised to a far higher level of power than in Barbie Land.
And Ken loves it. If only he was qualified to do anything more than stand on the ‘Beach’.
At its foundation, Barbie the movie is a feminist comedy – a strong description, but the script doesn’t pull punches as Barbie tackles the patriarchal society of the real world.
One of the all-male Mattel executives says, ‘I’m a man without power – does that make me a woman?’
So Barbie is faced with the idea of death and a world dominated by men.
The discussion of the awkward position of women in society is refreshing.
I get the, damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don’t scenario.
And I’ve never heard the difficulties declared in the way the real human woman character, Gloria (America Ferrera) who’s a Mattel employee and mum of teenage-full-of-angst Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), describes to Barbie: what it’s like to be a woman who can’t be fat, can’t be too skinny, has to say, ‘healthy’, while actually be skinny. Has be assertive but grateful. Be a sexy partner but caring like a mother but not a replacement for a mother. Has to have a career but not be selfish. Has to be successful but not so successful to make other people uncomfortable. And it goes on. And it all has the ring of truth about it.
It’s almost like the Barbies are the women born in the 50s who opened up the world in the 70s so women could become career women, and have babies – but in reality, there’s still a cage built of expectation.
Sometimes the message of the movie is a little dated like the idea of construction workers all being men. And the only-alive-when-you-look-at-me-Barbie, Ken is an unbalance in the other direction.
But there’s a fresh outlook here. That has genuinely funny moments.
The film was well-cast with Ryan Gosling as Ken helping keep it endearing as he too tries to understand his position in a patriarchal society versus a matriarchal society, then to find a place that understands the individual.
Then the message gets deeper as the idea of patriarch and the creation of Barbie is a construct created to intellectualise a confusing world; to try to control or understand, before we die.
As if I wasn’t already depressed in the middle of a Melbourne winter.
But then, it’s about girls and women, mothers and sisters and daughters all just being themselves.
So I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the message, with the added funny moments and a lasting feeling that tapped into a space unexpected – to feel good about myself and other women.
Produced by: Wyck Godfrey, p.g.a., Marty Bowen, p.g.a., Isaac Klausner, Damien Chazelle
Based on the Book by: James R. Hansen
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Patrick Fugit, Christopher Abbott, Ciaran Hinds, Olivia Hamilton, Pablo Schreiber, Shea Whigham, Lukas Haas, Ethan Embry, Brian D’Arcy James, Cory Michael Smith and Kris Swanberg.
Based on the biography written by James R. Hansen, ‘First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong’, First Man allows the spectacular phenomenon of man landing on the moon to speak for itself.
Oscillating – yes, it gets technical which is the main reason I enjoyed the film – between the drama of Armstrong’s family life and his courage to risk everything to go to the moon, this is a quiet film punctuated by nail-biting suspense.
It would have been easy to over-dramatise the achievement of America being the first to step foot on alien ground, instead, director Damien Chazelle (La La Land (2016), Whiplash (2013)) focuses more on the man: his sacrifice, strength and will to achieve what the American government so desperately wants to achieve before the Russians.
Ryan Gosling as Armstrong holds up the helmet well as the family man and as the brave, cautious and deliberate pilot navigating rockets, that are really bombs, set off while strapped inside what looks like a tin can.
The absurdity and risks are shown with lines like the technician buckling Dave Scott (Christopher Abbott) in for the test run of rocketing Gemini 8 through the atmosphere to see if it’s possible to dock one craft to another in space asking, ‘Anybody got a Swiss army knife handy?’
‘You’re kidding?!’ Dave says as the final adjustments are made.
First Man is about the years it took to accomplish the impossible, opening in 1961 with Neil beyond the atmosphere, testing the ability to cut through and be able to fall back to Earth – and the love of his wife Janet (Claire Foy), son (Gavin Warren / Luke Winters) and the devastating loss of his young daughter, Karen (Lucy Stafford).
This is a drama, the frailty of humanity given as much weight as the courage required to realise one of man’s greatest achievements.
When interviewed to join the Apollo team, Armstrong’s told by one interviewer that he’s sorry for the loss of his daughter.
To which he replies, ‘I’m sorry, is there a question?’
And he’s asked whether the loss has any effect on his wanting to join the Apollo mission.
‘It would be unreasonable to assume it wouldn’t have an effect.’
This statement sums up the movie for me – a quietly suspenseful and direct depiction of what it took and the motivation to drive someone to take such risks without unnecessary fanfare.
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett, Lykke Li, Val Kilmer.
Song To Song is a series of moments captured up close and pieced together to create a love story.
There’s minimal dialogue with the thread woven by the voice-overs of the main characters: BV (Ryan Gosling), Cook (Michael Fassbender), Faye (Rooney Mara) and Rhonda (Natalie Portman).
I had to find my way out of you, to life.
It wasn’t an easy film to watch as the many moments are made through different shots, angles and movement, switching perspectives to show light casting shadows, to leaves swirling in water; the affection of lovers through hands intertwined, socked feet being bitten, a smile or thoughts voiced-over a stare.
I tried to be kind. It only made me colder.
Director and writer Terrence Malick has reached for the stars with this film. Creating something aesthetically beautiful but also self-conscious.
The poetic narration of the characters worked well with imagery but the dialogue spoken felt fake and forced.
It was like the camera was left to roll, then all the good bits taken and edited into a story that was decided later.
By making a film this way, there’s natural moments of wonder and laughter but it also felt like the actors were self-aware.
Ryan Gosling shone as BV – the warmth of this nature and ready grin making me almost jealous of Rooney Mara as Faye. I really didn’t like her character at the beginning of the film – that coy, little girl act, grating.
But as the film progressed, I was immersed into the story gaining a better understanding of the character, Faye.
The film’s loosely based on BV making a record deal with the super successful and rich party-boy, Cook.
They travel around (with Faye in toe, of course) to places like Mexico and many other different houses and spaces including music festivals.
There’s cameo appearances from the likes of Anthony Keidis, Iggy Pop and Pattie Smith as themselves. Yet, BV, Cook and Faye kept in character (somewhat), trying to keep that loose storyline – the narrative sacrificed to include some cool footage into the film.
I’m all for the aesthetics but it made some parts of the film unnecessary as the fluidity of the story was lost to include the beautiful and poetic.
Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman make an appearance on the fringes of the film, the story losing itself amongst other people, only to find itself again with BV and Faye, making the journey moving, annoying, boring and sometimes completely absorbing.
It’s a different kind of movie. I think the film has taken itself too seriously and yet, not seriously enough.
Malick has created a film like an art installation. Like Andy Warhol filming actresses while interviewing them as they did whatever they wanted as long as it was interesting. There’s the same feel here. But revolving around the theme of sex and love – some parts worked, some didn’t.
I appreciated the reach and push made of this stellar cast. I just wish it didn’t feel so pretentious.
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Yaya Dalosta, Keith David, Lois Smith; Kim Basinger.
Harking back to the funky-soul disco era of the 1970s, The Nice Guys is a private detective, who-done-it comedy, with a bit of action on the side.
The scene is set when Misty Mountains (yes, her name referring to her boobs) comes to a dramatic end – assets revealed in life but covered in death, because hey, she’s human and this is a classy film.
Now, Amelia Kuttner (Margaret Qualley) is being followed. She hires Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), muscle who is paid to deter those, well, who need deterring. His line of enquiry leading to Holland March (Ryan Gosling), a private detective also on the case.
Delving into the world of ’70s pornography, dirty deeds are uncovered circling closer and closer to those targeting Amelia.
A classic storyline, yet, it’s the characters Healy, March and March’s daughter, Holly (Angourie Rice) who are the focus of the film. And the success of the film comes from the perfect casting of Gosling alongside Crowe.
It’s a pleasure to see Gosling playing a light-hearted character after all his seriousness in the past (Half Nelson (2006), The Ides of March (2011), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) and more recently, The Big Short (2015)). Gosling’s character, March, is a funny bastard. Either he’s a natural comic or director Shane Black deserves a tremendous amount of credit as March was the highlight of the film for me.
Russell playing, Healy: as always the steadfast meat-head with a heart of gold.
The two characters had a great chemistry, like the small dog yapping at the big. I wondered if there was a genuine annoyance from Russell Crowe regarding Gosling. But with a clever script, there were many moments for laughter.
Add the background scenery of horses get-up as unicorns, protesters playing dead in gas masks and some well-placed action (I was about to get bored near the end until the action kicked in); you’ve got an entertaining film. I’m still grinning about March falling, yet again, and somehow surviving.
But, honestly, there wasn’t a lot of depth here.
There were definite moments of wit and cleverness but the story barely held together at the end. The action got ramped up so I forgave the fading narrative. It depends on what mood you’re in.
If you’re looking for a, who-done-it with wit and action, this is a great film.
