Daredevil’s riveting ride
WITH MANY CINEMAS CLOSED, THIS STUNTMAN DOCO IS AMONG THE LATEST RELEASES YOU CAN STREAM AT HOME
STUNTMAN (PG)
Rating: hhhk
This fascinating doco about a daredevil and his dream opens with a stern warning from executive producer Dwayne Johnson. “Do not,” says the man they call The Rock, “try any of what you are about to see at home.” So if you are indeed planning on building a rocket in your backyard and then piloting it across a massive canyon pass, you might wanna think again, OK? However, second thoughts are not a luxury that the subject of the doco, veteran stuntman Eddie Braun, can afford. He wants to draw the curtains on his decorated career by doing something his idol, the great Evel Knievel, could not: climbing aboard a homemade rocket and steering the unpredictable metal beast all the way across Idaho’s
Snake River Canyon. Will he make it all the way over to the other side? Or face the many indignities and injuries that accompanied the failed Knievel mission? If you don’t know the answer, keep it that
way until Stuntman’s riveting final minutes. The
wait will be worth it, even though you may find yourself tiring of Braun’s many micro-boasts about working for so long in the danger zone. Stuntman premieres tomorrow on
Disney+
WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? (M) Rating: hhhk Binge, Foxtel
This lovely adaptation of the Maria Semple bestseller missed a cinema run because of the pandemic, and in this case that’s not necessarily a bad thing. For this quirky yet grounded tale of self-rediscovery has a subtle, unrushed vibe that is far better suited to the streaming environment. In her best work since her Oscar-winning turn in Blue Jasmine, Cate Blanchett excels in the title role, playing a
woman who wants her own life back after giving up so much for her family. Where does she go exactly? Both geographically and philosophically, a long way from the comfort and affluence of the ’burbs, that’s for sure. Co-stars Kristen Wiig, Billy Crudup, directed by Richard Linklater (Boyhood).
WHITE BOY RICK (MA15+) Rating: hhh Netflix
The true story of Richard Wershe, a teenage drug dealer in Detroit in the mid-1980s. At age 15, this not-sobright kid was coerced into becoming an informant for the FBI. Less than three years later, he copped a life sentence in prison, which only just ended its three decades-plus run in 2020. While this is indeed an incredible yarn, the acting here can
be hit and miss. Wershe is played by first-timer Richie Merritt, who looks a little lost alongside the decorated likes of co-stars Matthew McConaughey (as his dad) and
Jennifer Jason Leigh (an unsympathetic FBI agent). Netflix also carries a top-notch doco (titled ‘White Boy’) on the same case.
HOTEL ARTEMIS (MA15+) Rating: hhk Binge, Foxtel
Welcome to Los Angeles, about a decade from now. If you do choose to stay in this riot-torn city, do not book a room at the Hotel Artemis. This seemingly charming art-deco relic actually houses a hi-tech emergency hospital designed to get wounded criminals back to what they do best ASAP. On the one fateful evening documented here, the no-nonsense night nurse (Jodie Foster) running this establishment admits two bankrobbing brothers to her crooked clinic. Their recovery could be impaired by her sinister boss (Jeff
Goldblum), who would like to have a little chat with the new patients. This odd hybrid of sci-fi, action and unsettling ambience is not a world away from the John Wick series, but lacks the cohesion or inspiration. Foster is great though.
THE TOMORROW WAR (M) Rating: hhh Amazon
Looking for a big-budget, small-IQ action blockbuster to kill a few hours and a lot of brain cells this lockdown?
Let’s be upfront and state this big, dumb and fun affair ticks all the few boxes that matter. Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) heads a bunch of elite soldiers recruited by time travellers from the future to assist in repelling a coming alien invasion. While this is definitely throwaway stuff, the movie’s calculated blending of past hits like Independence Day, Interstellar, The Terminator and Alien will prevent any red-blooded action aficionado from hitting the pause, fast-forward or stop buttons.
SONGBIRD (M) Rating: h Amazon or Rent
An ill-conceived drama which has no chance of ever going viral. Funnily enough, it is a virus that serves as the hook here: a dangerously diseased little something called Covid-23. That’s right. It is the near-future (2024, probably) and the coronaviruses have just kept on coming; to the extent where sanitation workers are now armed keepers of law and order, and those who show the faintest flicker of a symptom are being shoved into quarantine ghettos with little hope of
ever getting out. This is dystopia for dimwits, proving once and for all you cannot vaccinate against terminal boredom. Stars K.J. Apa, Sofia Carlson.
ANTEBELLUM (MA15+) Rating: hhh Foxtel, Amazon
This tough, testing thriller is not for all tastes, despite a compelling pair of lead performances from multitalented musician-actor
Janelle Monae. In one part of the picture, she plays Eden, a slave woman suffering a daily onslaught of indignities on a Southern plantation in the 1800s. In a competing time frame set in the present day, Monae plays Veronica, a successful author and media figure who seemingly has the perfect life. The movie has a roundabout way of getting to what ultimately links these two women, which will frustrate some viewers no end. Some will argue that frustration is what enhances the tensions rising constantly throughout.
THE PROFESSOR (M) Rating: hh Binge or Rent
There are some flashes of the fine movie that may have been here, were it not for weak scripting and (in the eyes of some, at least) problematic casting. There is just enough wit and warmth to this semiamusing tale of a college professor on an unlikely road to end-of-life enlightenment after being given a year to live. Enough to keep it watchable, anyway. However, the lead role is taken by Johnny Depp, a figure whose off-screen notoriety now throws all kinds of unintentional shadows on his work, no matter how good it might be. In this case, Depp’s work is not strong enough to change many minds.