Category Archives: Bechdel fail

The Big Short (2015)

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Or how the housing crisis was pretty tough for a bunch of rich, white guys. I’ve been musing on this film quite a bit since I watched it a couple of nights ago. Not because it’s a great film but because I can see two ways to review it – for its craft and within the context of mainstream contemporary Hollywood film making.  It’s about the US housing crisis of 2007 and chooses to try to explain why it was allowed to happen rather than explore the effects. We follow several men, all misfits in some way, who saw the signs of the housing mortgage bond collapse and used it, and the blindness and perhaps deliberate fraudulence of the banks and regulatory bodies, for their own financial gain. Continue reading →

Deadpool (2016)

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I’m not the biggest fan of superhero movies. I’ve seen a few – Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Ironman, X-Men, Avengers – and some are more watchable than others but there is a certain sameness to them. For a start, the superhero is nearly always a man (looking forward to next year’s Wonder Woman), female characters are there for sex or saving (or both) and the plot rarely varies – ordinary guy, painful process, super powers, denial and rage, girlfriend captured by villains, saves her and saves the world. Deadpool doesn’t really depart from these archetypes but it is unlike any superhero movie I’ve seen before. Continue reading →

Zoolander 2 (2016)

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Is there any point in reviewing this movie? If you liked Zoolander, you’re going to watch it eventually and you’re going to know that, as a sequel, it’s never going to be as good as the original. If you didn’t like Zoolander, then you’d probably choose to undergo a tax audit rather than sit through another one. I have to admit it was seeing Benedict Cumberbatch in the trailer as an eyebrowless, gender non-specific fashion model that got me there. And in that respect, I was not disappointed. Continue reading →

Spotlight (2015)

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Spotlight is based on true events, when the Boston Globe uncovered evidence that the Catholic church had known of child sexual assault by priests and covered it up by shifting priests from parish to parish. Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), a new editor at the Globe around 2001, insisted that a small story about a lawsuit pertaining to a priest accused of sexual assault be further investigated after the court documents were ordered to be sealed. What becomes apparent is the extent of the cover up and the reticence of a community that is staunchly Catholic to acknowledge the problem. Continue reading →

Manuscripts Don’t Burn (2013)

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Every now and then I watch a film that packs such an emotional punch that I am left feeling devastated as the credits roll. In the past year, there have been a few – The Lobster, Dogtooth, Magical Girl, Rhino Season and The Past are some that come to mind – and last night Manuscripts Don’t Burn was added to that list. That three of these films are from Iran is not coincidental, I think. Manuscripts Don’t Burn is a riveting and unvarnished indictment of the politics of today’s Iran. Continue reading →

Bill (2015)

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If you have kids and you live in Melbourne, take them to this film at ACMI in Federation Square. Made by the Horrible Histories guys, it’s very loosely-based on the story of William Shakespeare. If you know Horrible Histories, you’ll know what I mean. There are puns aplenty, multiple parts played by five or so actors and lots of quick visual and verbal jokes, some just for the grown ups. The humour is distinctly British, my favourite kind, and reminds me of Blackadder in its irreverence and dry subversion of English history. Continue reading →

The Revenant (2015)

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I have mixed feelings about this movie, a visceral and epic story of survival in the frigid wilds of 19th century South Dakota. Hollywood and ‘inspired by a true story’ make me wary. Usually it means notions of heroism have been cranked up to 11 and drama has been fabricated to keep us 21st century viewers engaged. Add Leonardo DiCaprio and, at nearly three hours long, you know this has Academy Award intentions. But. This is directed by Alejandro Iñárritu, the Mexican director of Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros and Birdman, so it will never be ordinary. Continue reading →

All is Lost (2013)

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All is Lost is the Robert Redford film where he is the only cast member and there is no dialogue. This is all I knew about this film and it was enough to make me want to watch it. Peripheral anecdotes had seemed positive, along the lines of surprise at how watchable the film was, even without dialogue. Redford plays a sailor who seems to be in his sixties or seventies (Redford is 77 but not surprisingly has fewer lines and grey hairs than you would expect) who is sailing alone on a rather nice yacht. An unexpected accident happens that damages his yacht and from then, we see him struggle from one mishap to another as his situation becomes more serious. Continue reading →

Spectre (2015)

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Bond films don’t just fail the Bechdel test, they rip it up, stuff it into a sack and bury it in your back garden. The key to enjoying a James Bond film, I think, is to have very low expectations, take delight in the complete lack of logic and hope that the misogyny has been dialed down to negligible. Continue reading →