Movie review - "Predator Badlands" (2025) ***

 They tried to make a good movie with its own lore and integrity and pretty much succeeded. They had a vision and followed it. No humans. Character drama from predators. Elle Fanning very likeable.

The third act a little wobbly with mindless drone soldiers. It's better on the badlands.

Still, it shows what can be done with IP. 

Movie review - "The Seekers" (1954) ***

 Few seem to have kind words for this melodrama but I liked it. Robust Ken Annakin direction, colour, location shooting in New Zealand, silly storyline but full of action, Jack Hawkins not entirely well cast as a tormented man but still authorotative, ditto Glynis Johns as his wife. Noel Purcell solid as Hawkins sidekick Kenneth Williams as another Britisher - I think Anthony Steel should have played this role, maybe even Hawkins' role... who wants to see Hawkins commit adultery? Laya Raki is the Tondeleyo part.

Not great, but always something going on. I had fun.

Movie review - "Brothers" (1982) *

 Okay wow so yeah, uh.... Terry Bourke's output is... variable. This is a melodrama best known for its opening sequence which dramatises the killing of the Balibo Five. Only here it's the Balibo Seven - two brothers, Chard Hayward and Ivar Kants, actually survive and have PTSD. Kants settles down in a New Zealand town with Alyson Best and Haywood wants him to go back to journalism.

That's not a bad set up. But the result is a mess, growing increasingly campy as it goes along, with Hayward having a fling with a local girl and getting beaten up and they break up and he's with Jennifer Cluff and the local girl has a break town and turns into a hooker and tries to kill herself and has a break down and the town hate Hayward and there's a gang who want to beat up Hayward and Kants does it and then there's a bus crash and... 

Anyway a lot happens. Not much to do with the Balibo Five.

In fairness the plot is not worse than the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink efforts of say MGM in the 30s which were pushed over by having Clark Gable and Jen Harlow in it (the non classics, of which there were plenty, people just forget them). This doesn't have quite the same star power - no knock on Hayward he just, uh, isn't Clark Gable. (Having him do karate was perhaps particularly unfortunate). It's his film - and Margaret Laurence's - more than Kants. I think maybe they should've leant into Hayward and Kants more.

Is the bus crash based on a famous bus crash? The woman being impaled by a log is pretty funny.

Movie review - "Green Dolphin Street" (1947) ***

 Who the hell was Richard Hart? Some sappy faced dude who MGM obviously thought had the Right Stuff and shoved in some big movies before turfing him. Here he pretty much has the lead, mooned over by sisters Lana Turner and Donna Reed, as they adventure from Guernsey to New Zealand.

Too much time is spent on Hart's character who is weak and dim. Did MGM have no one else suitable that was cheaper (Turner's fee would've been a lot)? I suppose Peter Lawford - Hart gives off Lawford vibes. Someone like John Hodiak would've been better. I think Louis B Mayer's star spotting talent was less sure after the war. (Mind you he still promoted Mario Lanza, so...)

Van Heflin is probably not hot enough to play the swashbuckling moody dude but he livens up his scenes.  He's got the best part - he's in love with Turner, he's on the run, he gets along with Maoris. Hart is so dumb he signs a letter of proposal to the wrong woman (Reed not Turner).(This is contrived - really he needed to have knocked her up to make this hold but I guess the censor wouldn't allow it.)

This has Gainsborugh Melodrama vibes with its four heroes - I can imagine Margret Lockwood as Turner, Phyllis Calvert as Reed, Stewart Granger as Hart, James Mason as Van Heflin.

Turner is good in a solid part. She's in love with Hart, which is a stretch but that's not her fault, and she's got stuff to do - move to New Zealand, get stuck in an earthquake, run a timber business.

This is a good solid historical melodrama with nuns, sisters, black sheep, drunks, family secrets, earthquakes and native uprisings. Director Victor Saville as a fondness for scenes of people emoting in the shadows.

The film loses its bearings towards the end admittedly. It just throws away the Heflin Turner story (he just leaves when he needed to perish gloriously or something) and can't reconcile the Turner-Hart story - I think she finds out about the letter too late and he needs to redeem himself.

Still, I thought this was better than its reputation.

Book review - "Did I Ever Tell You This?" by Sam Neill

 Got a lot of time for Sam Neill - he's been around so long, had a fabulous career. In the 80s he always seemed on the verge of being a big star - Omen 3, etc - but never quite happened. I think he was more a very handsome character actor, often overshadowed by big stars but holding his own eg My Brilliant Career (Judy Davis), Jurassic Park (dinosaurs), The Piano (Holly Hunter). He just sort of chugs along.

The book is touchingly written after Neill has been diagnosed with cancer and he's living alone in his flat in Surry Hills. He's very discrete about the end of his relationships (Lisa Harrow was one) and affectionate about his kids. More open about his friendships especially Bryan Brown but also Kiwi mafia members like Tim Finn. Discusses life in Ireland and NZ - Dunedin not selling out to watch the Beatles, boarding school, uni, documentary film unit, low rent theatre, leaping to stardom quite quickly via Sleeping Dogs then My Brilliant Career then a British career (with a few TV detours on the way, one of which, Reilly Ace of Spies really established him there).

An amiable enjoyable chap who found a way to consistently work with great directors, on a whole variety of material. A lot of Aussie directors made their best films with Neill: Gillian Armstrong, Jane Campion, Fred Schepisci, Phil Noyce, John Duigan. There's also John McTiernan, John Carpenter, Martin Campbell, etc.

I would have liked more gossip but that's me. Enjoyed it.

I feel a little guilty for finding those videos he did during COVID really annoying.

Movie review - "In Search of the Castaways" (1962) ***

A big hit in its day but, oddly enough, it doesn't seem that well remembered as other early Hayley Mills films like Parent Trap or Written Down the Wind. It's a vehicle for Mills, clearly with Swiss Family Robinson in mind, though she shares the heroism around with Maurice Chevalier, Michael Anderson, Wilfred Hyde White and whoever plays her brother.

The script is flawed - sections of the adventure are motivated by mistakes from Maurice Chevalier and/or other characters being silly. (You could cut the whole south American sequence and it wouldn't matter, for instance. Why not use it - say have the Indian go along with them?) I forgot at times they were looking for the father. Villain George Sanders was introduced too late in the piece (he's great fun - they should have used him more - had him chasing after Mills, say).

The puppy love romance between Mills and Michael Anderson is sweet. There's a strong cast - Chevalier, Wilfred Hyde White. It could have done with a bit more character differentiation - a grown up romance (say if Chevalier had been made a female and with White or vice versa). That's what Journey to the Centre of the Earth

It'll be of interest to Aussies and Kiwis. The group visit Melbourne (though it just looks like studio set London) and "New Zealand" - there are a bunch of Maoris who are important to the plot.

There's good special effects - a tidal wave, a volcano. It looks impressive. I enjoyed the song interludes - it's like a musical they genuinely sing. The piece has charm. I just wish they'd tightened the script.

Movie review - "Six Days" (2017) **

Disappointing version of material that you'd assumed would be sure fire - the SAS attack on the siege at the Iranian embassy in 1980 (which inspired Who Dares Wins). Not ancient history but enough time has passed for a more accurate picture to emerge - but the treatment feels stock and rote. The initial seizing of hostages, the negotiations, even the final attack... it's so underwhelming.

I guess the final attack was alright - at least the build up to it. But it was very disappointing. You get no sense of the risks involved, the complexity of the situation. It was straight old arabs-bad-and-fighting-terrorists-good. Abbie Cornish seems to be sending up her role, with her big hair and weird voice.

Movie review - "Race for the Yankee Zephyr" (1981) **

I remember wanting to enjoy this as a kid because of its great title and concept but being underwhelmed by it. It remains underwhelming, with a great title and concept.

Brian Trenchard Smith was apparently flown to New Zealand for a day to keep director David Hemmings in line. It's a shame Trenchard Smith couldn't take over because he'd have brought the right light touch that this needs. Hemmings' work is fairly ordinary.

Brian May's score feels brooding and the playing isn't there. Donald Pleasance is ideal in the Walter Brennan part, and George Peppard camps things up as he's been asked to. Ken Wahl is a good looking guy with some charisma but isn't quite right here - he's a bit lumbering or something. (At times I wished Peppard was playing Wahl's role and Hemmings was playing the villain). Lesley Ann Warren feels wasted - I get she's meant to be a good girl who gets a bit naughty but she lacks a scene that's hers; a bathtub moment or an action scene or something.

The plot is fairly simple - Peppard chases the gang of three. It could've done with a twist like the betrayal of a friend or a death or some other reversal - like the government being involved, or a widow of one of the dead pilots coming along or something. I guess Pleasance is captured but that doesn't feel too major.

The scenery is stunning, there's some awesome camera work. Bruno Lawrence pops up as Peppard's henchmen. It is a film that just wants to entertain you, I'll give it that.

Movie review - "Nate and Hayes" (1983) **

An unsuccessful attempt by the Kiwis to storm the world market, based on a script co written by John Hughes of all people, but it has it's charms. It's a throw back to those Burt Lancaster South Sea swashbucklers of the 1950s such as His Majesty O'Keefe, with Tommy Lee Jones as a kind of pirate, based on a real dude who was apparently much nastier than his screen depiction here.

The plot has Jones in rivalry with Max Phipps, also playing a real life character, only here really evil. Goody two shoes Michael O'Keefe arrives in the islands with fiance Jenny Seagrove; Seagrove gets kidnapped by Phipps and O'Keefe and Jones go off to rescue her. It's actually the same plot as was used years later in Pirates of the Caribbean... mind you it is the same plot as Star Wars (i.e. good guy and anti hero try to rescue girl).

Lots of other scenes and moments in this are reminiscent of other movies: the opening sequence recalls Raiders of the Lost Ark, the German villains recalls The African Queen, the ending reminded me of Cat Ballou. Tommy Lee Jones does pretty well in the lead, Phipps chews the scenery as required, and Seagrove is an ideal pirate movie heroine.

O'Keefe is dull, and the movie never quite "clicks" and gets the charm it's looking for. But there is pretty scenery and decent production value.

Radio review - Lux - "Green Dolphin Street" (1949) **

Kiwis will find this story especially interesting as it's an MGM take on life in their country during colonial days - "New Zealand, where English laws won't reach you". There's two fugitives, a murderer on the run (Van Heflin) who goes into timber, then years later a drunken English navy officer (Peter Lawford) who worries about being busted for desertion. They wind up working together, drunken bum drunkenly writers to the wrong sister (Lana Turner) who comes out to see him who the other guy secretly loves and forces drunken bum to marry despite fact that drunken bum actually loves the woman's sister (Donna Reed) who becomes a nun.

Utter codswallop done which doesn't feel vaguely New Zealand-ish, but fascinating - there are talks of Maoris not liking the British, Heflin is down with the Maoris, Lawford and Turner own "the most fancy house in Dunedin". Heflin and Turner are solid - Lawford's weak voice and poor performance are indicative of why he never became a big star.

Movie review – “The Sands of Iwo Jima” (1949) ***1/2

Famous war film which, along with Red River, propelled John Wayne to the top rank of movie stardom. (He had been an important second-tier star since Stagecoach but didn’t make the box office top ten until 1948). Watching this made me reflect on Wayne’s appeal – although he plays a hard martinet, he never loses his sense of humour, and the smile is never far from his lips. I that is one of the reasons he was so popular for so long.

Wayne gives an excellent performance here as Sgt Stryker, who turns marine boys into men but who is also an alcoholic with a desperately unhappy home life. In later John Wayne films the conflict between Wayne and the other characters could get a bit tiring because you knew it was just a matter of time before they see things Wayne’s way – but every now and then you see a flaw in Stryker, which makes things a bit complex.

Also John Agar (who acquits himself well here) is allowed to make a few decent arguments against Wayne – that he wants his son to be raised intelligent rather than a military boofhead. He later apologises but it’s clear Agar doesn’t intend to be as neglectful as his own father was.

This film was made by Republic Studios, who specialised in B Westerns, but occasionally made more of an effort with the films of Wayne, who was their one big star. You can feel the extra effort – there are lots of cameos from real life heroes including the surviving Iwo Jima flag raising marines, plus newsreel footage.

I loved the foot note in the credits that this famous flag raising wasn’t technically the first American flag raised on Iwo Jima – off the top of my head I can’t think of any other film where the credits had footnotes.

Despite inevitable clichés (wacky comic relief soldiers, sweet faced yokels, good natured girls on shore leave), the film doesn’t paint a rosy picture of war – it’s a hard business where the enemy are good fighters (albeit referred to as “Nips” all the time) and decent men are killed, where seemingly small actions like stopping for a coffee lead to the death of your fellow soldiers and fighting sends you around the bend. Shame they had to have Wayne say “I never felt so good in my life” just before he was killed. And would all the soldiers sit around and have a chat afterwards with hostile Japanese about?

NB New Zealand viewers will enjoy the depiction of their native land in the first part of the film. Agar romances and marries a local Kiwi girl with a strong American accent, but there are few other locals.

Movie review - "Black Sheep" (2007) ***

Some of this is pure comic nirvana, such as scenes of terrified humans fleeing hordes of flesh-eating sheep galloping over the hills. It helps being a Kiwi film, too - if it was Australian it wouldn't be quite as funny (cute little New Zealand seems a lot more natural to breed monsters). Plenty of gore and humour - not quite in the class of Bad Taste but better made and more polished acting, etc. It lacks a third act twist - it feels as though it needs the introduction of a new element or something (a government official, a sheep hunter or something like that), and it's a shame the most charismatic likeable member of the cast, the Maori bloke, goes missing for large slabs of the film.

Movie review - "Smash Palace" (1981) **

GGGDrama about the break up of a family - a popular genre in the late 70s and 80s, not just because of Kramer vs Kramer but because so many directors get divorced (Shooting the Moon, Jenny Kissed Me). Bruno Lawrence turns in a charismatic portrait of a mechanic and racing driver who is a bit of a loser, unable to communicate - no wonder his wife gets annoyed and has an affair. Lawrence isn't best at processing his feelings so he explodes into violence. The film is watchable, Roger Donaldson is a talented filmmaker, but it got a bit boring after a while, to be honest. Best scene was where Lawrence has sex with his wife after a big argument - trying to hump some life back into their relationship.

The DVD contains a doco on the making of the film. Very much a passion project of Donaldson, who seemed to sweep everyone up in his enthusiasm.

Movie review - "Sleeping Dogs" (1977) **1/2

Historically important New Zealand film as it was the first big feature made there for ages, and it certainly launched several careers - director Roger Donaldson, star Sam Neill, writer/actor Ian Hume. All turn in strong efforts - Neil has charisma stamped all over him, the film moves along at a fair clip, production values are high (partly shot on the Coromandel Peninsula), there is action. The story has that 70s boomer sensibility: oppressive government, revolutionaries - it actually is quite believable, especially as the revolutionaries are shown to be quite ruthless, too - and we saw how hot things could get in New Zealand with the South African protests. The film is slightly hollow at the core - we don't know what the political context is (the government are just nasty), and since Neill doesn't want to get involved with anyone it makes it hard to care (he doesn't even want to clear his name or get into bed with a blonde like in a Hitchcock film - anyhow its a bit too dragged out for that sort of pacing and lacks a clear villain).

The DVD has a charming featurette on the making of the film - everyone was so keen to make it work, and they did. They wanted Jack Thompson to play a role but couldn't afford him - but they could get Warren Oates because he liked to fish in New Zealand!

Movie review – “Battle Cry” (1955) ***

Not remembered much today but a big hit at the time; a quintessential 1950s movie in many ways, with a large budget, based on a best selling novel, a solid topic (war) spiced up a little (more frank in the sex department – its clear there is a lot of premarital rooting going on), a cast that consists of some solid old hands (Van Heflin, Raymond Massey), and some new ingénues under contract to the studio (Aldo Ray, Tab Hunter), plus some indistinguishable starlets (Mona Freeman, Anne Francis).

It has a sort of odd structure – we meet a cross section of troops who enlist in the Marines in 1942, then see them go into training. Then we concentrate on Tab Hunter and his relationship with married woman (Dorothy Malone) despite having a sweetheart (Mona Freeman) back home. Then this relationship is resolved, the troops ship out to New Zealand, where Aldo Ray has a relationship with an American-accented New Zealand widow (Nancy Olson).

A good portion of this film is set in New Zealand so Kiwis will find it fascinating (the land of the Long White Cloud also features in Sands of Iwo Jima and Until They Sail). Then it concentrates on Van Heflin leading the troops into action. A few characters are set up such as the geeky writer character (John Lupton) and they don’t seem to use him – they don’t even give the geeky writer a death scene. Tab Hunter – who isn’t much of an actor but suits the part – was meant to die but was made to live for the ending. Those Warners beefcakes of the 50s found greatest success when they were ingénues surrounded by other actors.

The film is always watchable and the franker portrayal of sex really helps it - it seems evident Hunter and Malone have sex, Ray and Olson have pre-marital sex.

Movie review - "The World's Fastest Indian" (2006) ***

A bit of a mess but the most sheerly likable film in a long while. I saw it in a cinema where the audience consisted almost entirely of 60 year old couples - half men! Don't underestimate the retiree audience This film will be especially loved by 60 something blokes who muck around in sheds, have prostate problems and are cranky at people writing them off. For that's what Bart Munro (Anthony Hopkins) was while building the motor cycle that broke the land speed record. Munro is still chipper enough to charm two women into bed and also charm plenty of strangers in America - a transvestite, customs officials, racing officials. Some people are snappy at him but generally people are nice and helpful, which helps make this a nice film. Munro is deaf so there are a lot of dialogue lines where people repeat what they say to him, which is a little tiring.