Bad Samaritan (2020) - Movie Review

Remember Geostorm? Unless you’re an obsessive like myself who writes about nearly every new movie they watch, probably not. Well, get ready for the whiplash because this is what director Dean Devlin made after that infamous attempt to beat Roland Emmerich at his own game. And the result could not be more different from his previous. He’s gone from world-spanning disaster spectacle to an thriller with elements of home invasion cinema that has more in common with the works of Thomas Harris than anything to do with making us fear man-made climate change.

Mortal Engines (2018) - Movie Review

 

We don’t get movies like this anymore. Yes, it’s a large-scale piece of sci-fi action adventure cinema, a familiar form of popcorn fodder, but I’m talking more about the aesthetic. This kind of globe-spanning steampunk is a genuine rarity nowadays. And in the hands of Peter Jackson, giving his frequent collaborator Christian Rivers a thunderous directorial debut, his finesse in the realm of computer effects gives this film an absolutely fantastic visage.

Showing a world where cities have become gargantuan machines, roaming the scorched earth in hopes of materials to maintain their own existence (referred to in-universe as 'Municipal Darwinism'), the level of scale and detail here is staggering. Watching the colossal city of London chug along what was once the world we know is a disquieting experience… and not just because of the destruction in its wake.

Three Summers (2017) - Movie Review

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve looked at an Aussie film, so let’s rectify that by looking at today’s film by that fabled Australian filmmaker… Ben Elton. Okay, to be fair, this is a primarily Aussie production, full of premier Aussie actors and it’s set in the outback; it’s just directed by a British guy. But not just any British guy but one of the UK’s foremost satirists. Behind such classics as The Young Ones and Blackadder, Elton’s bombastic and scathing approach to satire is genuinely impressive. Whether it was looking at 80’s punk culture with Young Ones or basically the whole of history with Blackadder, the man had a definite knack for the work, which considering how fiddly true satire can be is commendable. It also helps that he had a hand in the greenlighting of Red Dwarf, not only a strong force of sci-fi satire in its own right but an all-out classic piece of British pop culture.

 

With this kind of pedigree, and taking into account what Australian media is often best at (cultural examination), this should turn out pretty good… right?