Movie Review #3976 SWEET COUNTRY.

Australian tale inspired by true events set in 1929 of an Aboriginal farmer, Sam, who murders a white equivalent, Harry, then goes on the run to avoid the inevitable bad ending, notwithstanding it being an act of self defence.

And the trail is fraught with old trackers, renegade locals, lots of 'f' words and the occasional gunshot as pursuer and pursuee, who brings his wife along for the journey, play the proverbial cat and mouse. Old Kiwi movie stalwart Sam Neill shows up as the local preacher and friend of aforementioned pursuee, with old Aussie movie stalwart Bryan Brown doing same as the cop who gives chase.

Numerous side characters give the proceedings much colour to match the vast Australian outback and the sense that this country just goes on forever. Numerous flash forwards too (opposite of flashbacks!) which can sometimes make things a little confusing and an interesting if not unpredictable conclusion at which we're left with a sense of frustration just as it appears that an all's well that ends well is on the horizon.

Awesome performances from Hamilton Morris as Sam along with those other two jokers plus a pretty crash hot supporting cast. Long but not overly so and attention is maintained throughout.

Overall 8.5/10. 
 

Movie Review #9257 PETER RABBIT.

CGI bunny fare based on the beloved Beatrix Potter children's story with a leading lady named Bea, as coincidence would have it who also draws bunnies very well if not much else.

I remember freaking out as 5yr old at the thought of poor little Peter being transmogrified into the nasty nasty Mr McGregor's pie. Mind you I also bemused as to why Peter, and Donald Duck for that matter, sported a jacket but never any pants, a question also posed at the outset of this little foray.

Anyhow, it's all lovingly set in Mr McGregor's English country garden, with veges for pilfering aplenty & an eclectic array of farmyard friends including a nervous badger, a rather dandy pig and the usual sly old fox. A slight twist on the traditional tale with another McGregor on the receiving end of the mayhem while Peter, Mopsy, Flopsy, Cotton Tail and idiot cousin Benjamin duck and dive throughout, laying traps, falling into traps and generally setting off traps all round.

CGI is nicely done and there's nothing too pretentious, engendering a sense of a page out of one's childhood imagination brought to life. And while most definitely a children's movie, there is usually enough in these types to keep adults on movies duty amused and entertained as well and there is here too, but barely.

Overall reasonably well done although perhaps marginally too sooky for my liking, no nefarious intent to be seen anywhere which is good in some respects as younger populations I'm sure will love it. 7/10. 

Movie Review #2975 RAMPAGE.

Another opportunity for Dwayne Johnson to show off his steroidal overuse this time with a large, & growing larger, albino gorilla in tow.

The Rock is a primatologist, monkey man to the rest of us, who's charge George gets a wiff of some nasty gene-altering experimentation stuff and starts to exhibit some definitely anti-social tendencies, along with a wolf and an alligator also so afflicted.  The chase is then on with muscle-man teaming up with the customary pretty female geneticist to stop the aforementioned animalia from reaching Chicago and levelling it.

This after the evil creators of experimentation stuff manage to use it to put out a distress call to retrieve George & his mates. It's one thrill after another as Dwayne and George bounce their way across America getting into some pretty hopeless predicaments and out of them again with seemingly consummate ease. Along the way they encounter one Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a southern drawled, smart a** FBI man who turns a favour or two to get chasers and chasees to the Sears Tower on time.

Pretty mindless fare really with a few smirk turns but nothing particular memorable. Johnson probably earned another cool 20mill for it which he will no doubt invest in more gym equipment to get ready for the next one.

No more than a 6/10. 

Movie Review #8258 A QUIET PLACE.

Another post-apocalyptic earth sojourn and this time we've no idea what happened.

There's also these nasty monster things around that hunt by sound, we don't know whether they're aliens or what, whether they caused the apocalypse or not but we do know make a noise and they'll have you for breakfast pretty darn quick.

So a family of survivors must communicate by signing otherwise they become nasty fodder and there's plenty to get tense about including  mum deciding to have kittens with a nasty in the house while dad is out hunter gathering. Usual monster movie thrills and spills along with interspersed family dramas and innovative anti-nasty solutions that eventually pinpoint a weakness, as they always do.

Nothing particularly original here although the tension is pretty constant throughout and amusingly, we don't even find out the names of the family until the credits roll at the close.

This after probably the most frustrating ending this critic has seen in a movie for quite a while. However as far as monster movies go, overall I've seen lots worse and while this is no Alien, it does come off slightly better than most.

7/10.