Out on Friday 17 July
Paul Rudd makes his big-time, small-time superhero debut. James Franco is locked up, with Jonah Hill as a regular visitor. Italian cinema glimmers with bees and reality TV. Yes, heres this weeks new releases. Click on for our reviews of Ant-Man, True Story, Self/less, The Gallows, The Wonders, Salt Of The Earth, 13 Minutes and The Ecstasy Of Wilko Johnson. For the best movie reviews, subscribe to Total Film.
ANT-MAN
I saw the punch coming a mile away but I just figured itd be all pathetic and weak, sneers Corey Stolls Darren Cross, nursing a sore jaw. Then you figured wrong, comes his lightning-fisted opponents riposte. Hold that thought, because Marvels Phase 2 closer might be the sucker-punch few expected this year. Much-discussed, much-debated, mildly dismissed Saw it coming, right? Wrong. Caught on the back-foot, Marvel has delivered a clip round the ear to its doubters: a fun, fizzy, confident and almost self-contained MCU semi-reset with, minor niggles aside, some nifty moves to play. Age Of Ultrons $1bn-plus returns suggests these doubters are in a minority, but itchy issues with the MCU have seemed in danger of becoming fiery irritants lately. Do we need another Climactic Airborne Slug-Fest? Or another two hours spent seeding plot-points for aggressive franchise expansions? Did Marvel really need to play directors musical chairs with Edgar Wright (out) and Peyton Reed (in)? And was Joss Whedons usually laser-eyed focus faintly dulled by the city-sized excesses of the otherwise enjoyable Ultrons yes Climactic Airborne Slug-Fest? Whatever your answers are, Marvel had more to prove with Ant-Man than any other post-Iron Man MCU entry and the good news is, it knows it. Hence a witty gag about Team Starks city-smashing antics; hence too, Ant-Mans theme of change. Paul Rudds ex-con Scott Lang is driven by the need to change in the eyes of his ex-wife (Judy Greer), the stake being access to his young daughter (a winning Abby Ryder Fortson). As for Marvel, Team Feige upholds the studios policy of a new genre per film. After The Winter Soldiers conspiracy curves, Ant-Man arrives as a comic caper pic, riffing smartly on the set-up of the crook trying to go straight who reverts to crime because the only post-prison job he can get (briefly) is a McJob. Divorce, estranged fatherhood, societal alienation If the pitch sounds more like a Bruce Springsteen ballad than a summer sizzler about a guy in ant-duds, Marvel is thinking ahead again. Comic relief is judiciously dished out, aided hugely by ace support in the often show-stealing shape of Michael Pea as Langs dizzy partner-in-crime. Despite Marvels wobbly recent record with directors (Wright, Ava DuVernay), its casting copybook stays clean. Substituting Sex Panther for cat-burglary, Rudd brings average-Joe charm without smarm to the nimble-fingered Lang. As for Michael Douglas, techno-babble about sub-atomic particles and quantum realms drops from his gob as vermouth-voiced wisdom: this is, after all, the man who once convinced a generation to skip lunch. Resuming Wall Street-ish mentor mode and adding wrinkly warmth, Douglas sells every line as Hank Pym, the inventor with a past who takes Lang under his wing: the mission, should Lang choose to accept it, being to retrieve Pyms incredible shrinking particle from Pym Tech before Darren Cross gains a weapon even deadlier than his frankly horrible gun. The pace crawls initially, more Snail-Man than off-with-a-bullet Ant-fella. But the time is well spent on setting fresh character connections. Those links are plotted with satisfying symmetry across a pattern of fathers/kids and mentors/protgs, fleshed out further by the fraught history between Hank and daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly, punchy and pitch-perfect in a pivotal role). True to form, Ant-Man gives that past due attention without becoming bogged down, brazenly utilising quip-power to kick-start the plot after moments of revelation and reflection (and sly franchise-setting-up). Marvel-watchers cried No! when Yes Man helmer Reed replaced Wright, but Wrights imprint sticks in gentle touches of almost Aardman-esque drollery and his replacement doesnt botch the job. Reed might lack the pop-art pizzazz and unruly ambition Wright might have provided (yes, thats a lot of mights), but he nails the comedy/drama/action balance and slam-dunks the set-pieces. A cool-as-ice burglary is just the entre. Once Lang downsizes, the best bathtub sequence since Paddington uses dizzying, immersive plummet-o-vision to capture his diminishing PoV as he dodges death by DJ, hoover and rat. With faintly rote training montages and use-the-Force-style lessons in ant-control (free your mind and your ants will follow, essentially) out the way, the cool shit arrives with the palate-cleansing emphasis on inventive smarts over size. A ruck with a guesting Avenger and various bustles of dazzling business with ants play giddy games with proportion. Balanced by the small stuff, the bigger gambits seem refreshed: one sight gag (clue: enlarged vehicle) brought the house down at our screening. Even the near-Climactic Airborne Slug-Fest benefits from an ingenious, briefcase-based spin, followed by another roof-raising gag at a poolside punch-up and a toy-town stand-off thats even more fun - and trippy - than the trailer hinted. Factor in some carefully placed teasers about Ant-Mans screen future, add two sharp stings and youve got a refreshing proposition: a heavyweight studio boxing clever. In a super-sized summer, the dinosaurs and Arnie-bots wont know what hit them. THE VERDICT: Its Ant-Man, not pants, man. Marvel passes its biggest test in years with flying critters plus wit, flair, top-notch casting and some good, gratuitous size gags. Your move, Cap. Director: Peyton Reed Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena, Abby Ryder Fortson Theatrical release: 17 July 2015 Kevin Harley
TRUE STORY
Like it says on the tin, True Story is a real-life tale, recounting the battle of wits between disgraced journalist Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill) and Christian Longo (James Franco), accused of murdering his wife and three children. It begins with Finkel, a hotshot freelance reporter, being fired from the New York Times after fudging the facts in a story. Cast out as a pariah, he struggles to find work until he learns that Longo, now arrested, had assumed Finkels identity while on the lam. Finkel sees the chance for redemption. He travels to an Oregon prison to meet his greatest admirer: a man who not only protests his innocence but grants Finkel access to write his story up as a book the same book from which the film is adapted. The interviews that follow are duels of passive-aggression, their weapons lies and deceit. These scenes just two men talking are the core of True Story, echoing first-time director Rupert Goolds esteemed theatre background. Shame, then, that the chatty set-up is often let down by tepid scripting. Hill, for example, impresses as Finkel, but is stuck hinting at his characters self-serving flaws rather than exploring them. And unlike its touchstone, Bennett Millers Capote, True Story never really illuminates its subjects with intimacy or passion. Longo, especially, suffers here. Were told by Finkels girlfriend (a wasted Felicity Jones) that hes a manipulative narcissist but where are we truly shown it? Certainly not in Francos performance, which aims for eerie and enigmatic, but ends up mawkish and insincere. A problem when the guys trying to convince you that hes not a murderer... THE VERDICT: With varying results, Hill and Franco get serious in a story that is occasionally intriguing and tense, but promises far more depth and complexity than it actually delivers. Director: Rupert Goold Starring: Jonah Hill, James Franco, Felicity Jones, Maria DizziaTheatrical release: 17 July 2015 Stephen Kelly
SELF/LESS
If youre looking for a literal definition of sloppy seconds, itd be hard to beat Self/less, a film built on a similar premise to Seconds John Frankenheimers seminal 60s sci-fi that is the epitome of sloppiness. Shame, because the premise has potential, with Ryan Reynolds playing a man with two consciousnesses competing for control of a single mind. The reason Reynolds cortex is a little bit crowded is Damian Hale (Ben Kingsley), a billionaire industrialist with terminal cancer who pays a fortune to have his brain waves transferred into a younger mans body. Hale Mark II (Reynolds) is soon shagging his way around New Orleans though his sexploits are curtailed by flashbacks that alert him that his new surroundings have one old, not so careful owner. Now heres what we dont get. Having established Damian as a mean old SOB who thinks nothing about crushing his rivals and estranging his only daughter (Michelle Dockery), why do sibling scribes Alex and David Pastor give him a sudden pang of conscience that has him seek out the loved ones of his bodys previous inhabitant? Could it be to give the sinister corporation behind this body-swap nonsense a reason to send its goons after him something that would be a lot more fun were director Tarsem Singh as efficient at staging action as he is at orchestrating elaborate visuals (see Mirror Mirror, Immortals et al)? Every medical advance has a cost, sighs Matthew Goode, barely awake as the man behind the films Freaky Friday McGuffin. Those who elect to exchange two hours of their life for this textbook example in diminishing returns may find that cost a bit too high. THE VERDICT: Going nowhere that The Island, Total Recall and RoboCop didnt go before, Self/less is derivative right down to its Face/Off-esque punctuation. Director: Tarsem Singh Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Ben Kingsley, Matthew Goode, Natalie Martinez, Victor Garber Theatrical release: 17 July 2015 Neil Smith
THE GALLOWS
The Gallows wants to have it both ways. On the one hand, it wants to be a VHS-era slasher flick, centred on an unseen/unknown killer seeking bloody revenge for some gruesome wrongdoing. Which in this case involves a high-school production 20 years ago that went so awry the lead was hanged. Two decades on, and the school commemorates the tragedy by you guessed it re-staging the play. If this were 1982, this would be known as a solid premise. But The Gallows isnt satisfied with retro thrills alone. It also wants to exploit the ber-cheap thrills of found footage to tell its tawdry tale. And so, the principals in a production no school would ever commission are inexplicably trapped in the theatre the night before the performance and chased by the mysterious killer. Naturally, one of the kids captures it all on shaky-cam. The climactic jolt only works if you buy into the absurd premise of the film. Unlike the bloody slashers of yore, theres very little gore: most of the deaths are signified by blurry darkness and loud noises. The cast all gorgeous-but-blank 20-somethings are game, but the script is so leaden it actually sounds like the school play its fretting over. The most frightening thing about all of this is that, 16 years on, mainstream horror creators are still in thrall to the Blair Witch blueprint, and its producing ever-diminishing returns. The Gallows works so hard to look as if its real-deal found footage thats been shot on a mobile phone that it seems too small and weedy to be up on the big screen. Its a YouTube project you could knock together in your own garage over a weekend. THE VERDICT: Annoying found-footage flick with a slasher twist that wont satisfy fans of either genre. Motion sickness pills are highly encouraged before watching. Directors: Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing Starring: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos, Cassidy Gifford Theatrical release: 17 July 2015 Ken McIntyre
THE WONDERS
The Italian countryside has rarely looked more sun-kissed or dreamy than in Alice Rohrwachers coming-of-age drama, about a family who have turned their backs on urban life to keep bees for a living. Shot in the area where Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany all join, it stars the directors sister Alba as Angelica, the pragmatic mother to four daughters though eldest teen Gelsomina (Maria Alexandra Lungu) comes most into focus. Rohrwacher handles the growing pains with sensitivity and good humour, while capturing the slow rural rhythms with aplomb. Bellissimo. Director: Alice Rohrwacher Starring: Maria Alexandra Lungu, Sam Louwyck, Alba Rohrwacher, Sabine Timoteo, Monica Belluci Theatrical release: 17 July 2015 James Mottram
THE SALT OF THE EARTH
Wim Wenders latest, Oscar-nommed doc centres on globe-trotting Brazilian photog Sebastio Salgado. Wenders co-directs with the subjects son Juanito Ribeiro Salgado and their contrasting approaches to discovering Sebastios philosophy one coaxing innovative direct-to-camera recollections; the other joining dad on new adventures emphasises the photographers focus on passion and personality. Aptly, the real star is Salgados work itself, from the harrowing anguish of Ethiopian famine to the soul-enriching nature shots that accompany Salgados latter-day career as a conservationist. Director: Wim Wenders, Juliano Salgadu Theatrical release: 17 July 2015 Simon Kinnear
13 MINUTES
A return to the Third Reich for Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel, this is a respectful if workmanlike account of how carpenter George Elser (an impressive Christian Friedel) attempted a lone assassination of Adolf Hitler in November 1939 by planting a bomb at a Munich Beer Hall where the Fhrer was scheduled to speak. Richly coloured flashbacks to events in Elsers home village under National Socialism explain why this free-spirited Christian embarked on such a courageous course of action; yet this stiffly scripted film never quite stirs the emotions. Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel Starring: Christian Friedel, Katharina Schuttler, Burghart Klaussner, Johann Von Bulow Theatrical release: 17 July 2015 Tom Dawson
THE ECSTASY OF WILKO JOHNSON
Filmed throughout 2013 as the eccentric guitarist battled a three-kilo cancerous tumor, Julien Temples semi-sequel to 2009 Dr. Feelgood doc Oil City Confidential mashes together Wilkos ruminations with old movies, farewell tour footage and poetry recitals. This type of collage works best when ambiguous, but Temples choices of imagery are often reductively literal and irritatingly affected. Thank goodness for Wilko himself: an erudite, eloquent old soul whose life-affirming humility insight in the face of death are remarkable. Director: Julien Temple Starring: Wilko Johnson Theatrical release: 17 July 2015 Simon Kinnear
