Mister Organ (2022) - Movie Review

 

“This is the weirdest film I’ve seen all year.”

That was my immediate reaction to this New Zealand doco once the credits started rolling, but thinking back on it, it doesn’t seem that strange. It’s the story of a man who, by director David Farrier’s own admission, is fucking boring, and it starts out looking at the titular Mr. Organ and his involvement in a bout of aggressive car-clamping outside of an antiques shop in Auckland, New Zealand. But as both Farrier and the audience are drawn deeper into Organ’s endless supply of shaggy dog stories and bewilderingly frequent court appearances, the effect created is beyond surreal.

Millie Lies Low (2022) - Movie Review

Just as Australians know their crime dramas and Italian know their Westerns, New Zealanders sure know their cringe comedies. Only this example is a bit different than what I’ve looked at before. Its depiction of a woman who, after a panic attack, has to miss a plane to New York… but goes to increasingly bizarre measures to try and convince everyone that she didn’t miss it, certainly fits in with that social cringe spectrum, but it’s a lot more anxious this time around. There’s a definite Safdie brothers pace to it, gradually escalating just how much worse things can get for the main character, and with its fixation on social media and social pressure, it fits in with the recent trend towards influencer thrillers.

The Justice Of Bunny King (2021) - Movie Review

This one seems like a no-brainer: Get one of Australia’s best working actresses, and one of, if not the, best young New Zealand actress, and put them in a movie together. Besides both Essie Davis and Thomasin McKenzie being in some absolute winners this year already, they’ve been putting in a lot of strong work over the last few years. And this film adds another notch to their respective belts, to the point where this might be my single favourite Essie Davis performance yet. As the titular Bunny King, she is mama bear personified as a hard-done-by squeegee woman who just wants to go to her daughter’s birthday party. The sheer conviction she gives with this role is incredible, perfectly portraying someone trying to make the best out of a terrible situation. Well, several terrible situations that have piled on top of each other.

The Breaker Upperers (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Romantic cynics Mel (Madeleine Sami) and Jen (Jackie Van Beek) run an agency called the Breaker Upperers, where they help people break up with their partners without any lingering connections. However, when they agree to help young Jordan (James Rolleston) break up with his girlfriend Sepa (Ana Scotney), Mel finds herself falling for him. As the two try to deal with Mel breaking one of the fundamental rules of their work, to not get involved with clients, they will also question why they got into this line of work in the first place.

Pork Pie (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Struggling writer Jon (Dean O’Gorman), after a messy encounter with his ex Suzie (Antonia Prebble), is left struggling to figure out how to make things right again. By chance, he happens upon Luke (James Rolleston), who has stolen a car and hitting the road. He decides to help Jon get his ex-girlfriend’s house, picking up disgruntled fast food worker Keira (Ashleigh Cummings) along the way. As they go on their way, their antics on the road draw the attention of the local police, Jon’s family and even the national media, with them being dubbed the ‘Blondini Gang’.

This Giant Papier Mache Boulder Is Actually Really Heavy (2016) - Movie Review

Sci-fi is a genre with a long and proud history of being enjoyed by losers stuck in their parents’ basements. As such, it has also garnered a certain mockable reputation that, in recent years, has begun to recede into just being another aspect of human life. For all the hate I have for The Big Bang Theory, it is regrettably part of that assimilation process so I have one thing to be thankful to it for. While my brain tries to process me giving that piece of crap any credit, I will conceit that all of this acceptance doesn’t change one simple fact: Sci-fi is also incredibly goofy, even on a good day. As a result, riffing on films within that spectrum is probably the easiest of any genre; hell, the entire idea of riffing came about thanks to the kitschier titles of the 50’s and 60’s. Now, making fun of silly science fiction is all well and good, but then we get into feature-length spoof movies… and now the fear has set in. I say that because the spoof movie died a rather loud and obnoxious death a while back thanks to chuckleheads like Friedberg & Seltzer; people rarely make them anymore, and the few we do see are outright garbage. So, will this micro-budgeted New Zealand effort break the chain?

Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016) - Movie Review

Even in spite of my attempts to not let the hype machine sway me when it comes to certain releases, there are still times when things get so intense that I stand back and say “Holy hell, just how good is this thing?!” As I write this, this film is standing at almost 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with all of one bad review that, when you actually read the thing in all its Geocities-esque glory, still gave it a slightly-above-average rating. The film’s writer-director, Taika Waititi, is not only slated to help co-write the next Disney princess flick with Moana but also directing the next Thor movie with Ragnarok. Even ignoring my somewhat lukewarm reaction to his previous film What We Do In The Shadows (I liked it, but not nearly as much as the rest of the world seems to), this is raring up to be the prologue to a rather explosive break in the mainstream. Now, given how happy I still am that other Oceanic directors like James Wan have managed to get their much-deserved chance to shine, I’m seriously hoping that this will pan out well. But quite frankly, this has a very ‘Boyhood’ feel to it before I even set foot in the cinema; you know, it’s still good but cut down incredibly small thanks to the hype behind it. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: I welcome the chance to be proven wrong on my scepticism.

Three Wise Cousins (2016) - Movie Review

Maybe it’s as a result of the certain brand of critic that I took inspiration from to start reviewing films in the first place, but there are times when I wonder if maybe I’m a little too harsh on certain films. Oh sure, stuff like Vacation and War Room most assuredly deserve every fireball I throw their way, but what about the smaller productions? Like, say, The Quarantine Hauntings from last year? Every so often, given how relentlessly I tore the thing apart, I wonder if I was maybe too hard on it given its lower budget and limited release. Then again, I’ve seen amazing low budget films like Lead Me Astray and amazingly awful blockbusters like Pan, so I’m already of the opinion that films are capable of being held to the same standard across the board. Every film gets the same treatment, no question about it. So, with that protecting-my-own-arse clause out of the way, let’s get started with today’s film already.