THE DOG STARS : Tuesday 1st September 2026.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE DOG STARS' earlier this week, and this post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi film is Co-Produced and Directed by Ridley Scott, who I'm sure needs no introduction. Suffice to say some of his more acclaimed prior feature film making credits take in the likes of 'Alien' in 1979, 'Blade Runner' in 1982, 'Thelma & Louise' in 1992, 'Gladiator' in 2000, 'Black Hawk Down' in 2002, 'American Gangster' in 2007, 'Prometheus' in 2012, 'The Martian' in 2015, 'House of Gucci' in 2021, 'Napoleon' in 2023, and 'Gladiator II' in 2024. This film is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Peter Heller, was released last week too in the USA, has so far recovered US$21M at the Box Office from its US$70M production budget and has generated mixed or average critical reviews. 

Set in 2035 many years after a devastating flu pandemic almost wiped out all of the human race, Hig (Jacob Elordi), a former mechanic, lives in a self contained heavily fortified compound in Erie, Colorado, with his dog named Jasper, and Bangley (Josh Brolin), a hardened former Marine turned survivalist. Hig from time to time pilots a small single prop Cesna light aircraft into an abandoned and desolate Denver to gather supplies of fuel, food and medical stores. To Bangley's chagrin, Hig also supplies a nearby Mennonite community, led by Aaron (Benedict Wong) with food and occasional mechanical repairs.

When two opportunistic teenage strangers approach uninvited (referred to affectionately as 'roaches') Bangley shoots them dead in quick succession from his distance look-out point, creating a conflict with the more sympathetic Hig. They douse the bodies with petrol and burn them. 

While out flying his plane one day with Jasper, Hig picks up a distorted radio signal originating from Grand Junction, Colorado, that suggests human life there. Hig has picked up this signal on various occasions over recent years, but always quickly lost contact.

While sleeping outside one night under the stars Hig and Jasper are awakened by a larger group trying to ambush their home. The pair fight them off until Bangley appears and finishes them off. The next morning they douse the bodies with fuel and burn them. Jasper, however dies in the attack, spurring Hig to visit Denver to bury him next to his deceased wife Melissa (Sai Bennett) at their former home. 

Heartbroken and distraught, Hig decides he must find the source of the Grand Junction radio signal, believing there to be more to life out there than the confines of their compound. Bangley, who does not approve of the journey, stays behind in Erie, seemingly bringing an end to their five years partnership. After experiencing a mechanical failure, Hig lands his Cesna in a valley bringing the plane to an abrupt halt within inches of a stand of trees. Within a few minutes there is a stampede of wild buffalo that causes minor damage to the plane while Hig takes cover under the fuselage. Dusting himslef off he spies a donkey in the distance with a bell around its neck. He follows the donkey and comes to a remote farmstead where a father and daughter, Pops (Guy Pearce) and Cima (Margaret Qualley), live. The two form an uneasy alliance with Hig, as he repairs his plane and cuts down trees to make a runway, using the donkey to pull out the tree stumps. Hig starts a romantic relationship with Cima, who asks him to stay with them.

After their farm is raided in an attack by a marauding group of roaches on horseback Hig, Cima, and Pops flee on Hig's plane. They make it to Grand Junction Regional Airport, where the radio operator hesitantly allows them to land and enter their community unarmed. Upon arrival, they feel a sense of unease. Darlene (Allison Janney), a former flight attendant who is the leader of the community, orders Cima to marry a soldier, due to her previous medical education, making her a most welcome catch. Hig, Cima and Pops escape, having discovered the community's cannibalism, as evidenced by the dismembered corpses hanging in plastic bags in a walk-in freezer through which they make their escape. As they fly away, they bomb Grand Junction with grenades from the air, which Bangley had handed to Hig when he left, as a precautionary measure in the event that he ran into any trouble.

The three fly back to Erie to check on Bangley, where they discover a major attack occurred at the compound and much of it had been wiped out. There is no sign of Bangley but there are plenty of dead roaches strewn around the place, which are already being picked on by carrion birds. Bangley is found injured but alive, and welcomes the group with fresh brewed coffee, after which nurse Cima stitches up his wounds. He then reluctantly joins them at the Mennonite (which he refers to as Mormons) community in the mountains to establish a new settlement there.

'The Dog Stars' is hardly going to go down as Ridley Scott's finest film in his fifty or so year long film making career, or his best entry into the Sci-Fi canon for that matter too, but there are some moments nonetheless when the Ridley Scott magic shines through. Such as the sweeping vistas of river valleys and looming mountain terrain, the snow capped peaks, the desolate cityscape that once was Denver, and the Grand Junction airport terminal that looks as though it was lifted straight out of 'Blade Runner'. That said there's nothing new here in the story that we haven't seen before in other post apocalyptic dystopian thrillers such as '28 Days Later', 'The Last of Us', 'I Am Legend' and countless others. The performances of Josh Brolin and Allison Janney (as brief as her screen time is) are on point, but I found Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley's undercooked and too sugar coated. And to cap it off there are a couple of glaring plot holes that I will not expand on here, but see if you can spot them for yourselves.

'The Dog Stars' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

HOW TO MAKE A KILLING : Tuesday 17th March 2026

I saw the M Rated 'HOW TO MAKE A KILLING' earlier this week, and this French and UK Co-Produced black comedy thriller film is Written and Directed by John Patton Ford in only his second feature film making outing following 'Emily the Criminal' in 2022. This film is based on the Roy Horniman 1907 novel 'Israel Rank : The Autobiography of a Criminal' which in turn was used as the basis of the Screenplay of the highly-regarded 1949 black comedy 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' Directed by Robert Hamer and starring Alec Guinness playing all eight members of the family whom he must kill off to inherit the family fortune. This film was released in the US in mid-February, was released here in Australia on 5th March, in the UK on 11th March, and upcoming in France on 25th March. The film has so far received mixed or average critical reviews, and has grossed US$9M from its US$15M production budget.

Convicted of murder and waiting to be put to death in a little over 24 hours, Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell, who also Co-Produces here), recounts his story to a priest, Father Morris (Adrian Lukis) on how he came to be there in the first place. As a child, Becket (Grady Wilson) is raised by his single mother, Mary (Nell Williams), who was outcast from her wealthy Redfellow family for choosing to keep her teenage pregnancy at just eighteen years of age. As a young lad, Becket befriends the more well to do Julia Steinway (Maggie Toomey). Prior to her death in hospital, Mary stresses to young Becket that he should fight for the life he 'deserves' to have.

One day, a now adult Becket who works as a suit salesman in a bespoke tailors shop is noticed by a now married Julia (Margaret Qualley) who by chance is in the shop looking for suits for her husband. They briefly catch-up on each others lives having not seen one another for many many years. Later Becket gets  demoted from his job as a suit salesman, and pushed out to the company warehouse, whereupon he promptly resigns. Becket decides to eliminate the remaining Redfellows in order to claim his inheritance to the family fortune which runs into the tens of billions of dollars.

Becket first kills his cousin Taylor (Raff Law), an investment banker, by tying an anchor to his leg while he sleeps off a hangover on his private motor boat and tosses the anchor overboard taking Taylor with it. Becket then meets Taylor's father Warren (Bill Camp) at the funeral, who offers him Taylor's old job at his financial investment firm. While planning the murder of his other cousin Noah (Zach Woods), an artist, Becket befriends Noah's girlfriend Ruth (Jessica Henwick). After killing Noah, by rigging an explosion in his photographic dark room, two FBI agents approach Becket, discussing the two suspicious deaths, though they do not accuse Becket of murder. Becket pretends to not know whether he is eligible for the inheritance. Julia appears in Becket's office, claiming her husband Lyle is broke and asks for a US$300K loan, which he denies. 

Becket and Ruth begin dating and move in together into a lavish high-rise apartment, now that he has moved onward and upward in his new job. Despite being welcomed with open arms by Warren, rapidly promoted in his job and content with his relationship with Ruth, Becket kills three more Redfellows -  cousin Steven (Topher Grace), aunt Cassandra (Bianca Amato), and uncle MacArthur (Alexander Hanson). Warren, who Becket is unable to bring himself to kill because of the kindness and generosity he had shown him, has a heart attack and dies as they are both leaving the office one day reeling from a looming financial crisis, leaving only one more living Redfellow, Becket's grandfather Whitelaw (Ed Harris).

Whitelaw sends a personal invitation to Becket for dinner at his mansion on the night of Becket and Ruth's engagement party. He calls Ruth to explain that he must attend and she makes him promise to be home by 7:00pm which he agrees to. Julia reveals to Becket that she has photographic evidence of his murders, which she will reveal unless he gives her the US$300K she had asked for previously, and that this must be delivered personally by him to her husband Lyle (James Frecheville) at his place of work. Becket complies, going to Lyle's office to hand-deliver a cheque to him. Becket forgoes his engagement party to go to the mansion, where he meets Whitelaw, who locks the doors and attempts to kill him with a WWI pump action shotgun. Becket kills Whitelaw in self-defence using a bow and arrow taken from an arrangement hanging on the wall. This makes Becket the sole inheritor to the family fortune. At a celebratory party at the mansion, Becket is approached again by the FBI agents, who arrest him for the murder of Lyle, who was found stabbed to death in his office using a letter opener that Becket touched when he delivered the cheque, leaving fingerprint evidence.

With the clock counting down the hours until his execution, Julia visits Becket in jail. During their timed three minute meeting, she tells him that there was a suicide note written by Lyle that was withheld from the trial. Becket pressures Julia to release the note, which she agrees to only if Becket signs over the entire Redfellow fortune to her. Becket reluctantly agrees, and signs the necessary paperwork from his jail cell. Julia then releases the note as promised. With Becket's innocence now without question, he is set free. Ruth waits for him outside the prison, only to return his mother's locket to him containing a lock of her hair as a keepsake. She leaves afterwards without saying a word to Becket and speeds off in her beat up old car. Becket sees Julia waiting for him with the Redfellow family driver, and the pair travel to the Redfellow family mansion together in the comfort of a Rolls Royce.

As a big almost life long fan of 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' I left the movie theatre feeling underwhelmed by this modern 21st century set in New York retelling that is 'How to Make a Killing'. On the plus side Glen Powell gives an OK frequently smirking like the proverbial Cheshire Cat performance backed up by the always dependable Margaret Qualley and Ed Harris, with the latter being banished to the penultimate sequence in which he perishes courtesy of two well aimed arrows. On the downside however, the six murders are all wrapped up with relative ease, are totally bloodless, and are skirted over like they've been concocted by a ten year old with access to Google. The script would have benefitted too from a little more polish, and being just a tad nastier, more witty, and less predictable. In summary, the film has all the touchstones to be greater than the sum of its parts . . . it just fails to hit them.

'How to Make a Killing' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE SUBSTANCE : Tuesday 24th September 2024

I saw the R18+ rated 'THE SUBSTANCE' earlier this week and this UK and French Co-Production is a satirical body horror film Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Coralie Fargeat in only her second feature film outing following her 2017 debut with 'Revenge'. This film screened in the Palme d'Or main competition at this years Cannes Film Festival, where Fargeat won the award for Best Screenplay. It was released here in Australia, the US and the UK last week and in France from 6th November, cost almost US$18M to produce, has so far grossed US$6M and has generated positive critical acclaim.

The films opens with a small handful of workmen seen laying a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with the name of Elisabeth Sparkle emblazoned upon it. Over time with literally hundreds of thousands of feet walking over it, the star becomes cracked and somewhat tarnished. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), is a former Academy Award winning Actress and now is renowned for a popular TV aerobics show which has been running for many years. On her 50th birthday she is fired by her boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) who wants to relaunch the show with a much younger, more virile, more attractive host. On the drive home she is distracted by workers tearing down a billboard of her show, and her vehicle is T-boned by another car and ends up on its roof. Elisabeth is hospitalised but miraculously suffered no injuries, but amid her distress and anxiety a young nurse gives her a flash drive labeled 'The Substance' - a black market product which promotes a mystery supplier's invention - a serum that, when injected, creates a younger, more beautiful, more 'perfect' version of the user, though the two are still connected as one. 

After plugging in the flash drive to her TV and watching the brief ad she initially discards the drive in the bin, but after some deliberation comes back to it. She orders the product and the next day receives a message that her package is ready for collection from a nondescript location seemingly in the arse end of town. Arriving back at her apartment she injects the product - a single use 'Activator' resulting in a younger version of herself in her 20's (Margaret Qualley) being violently and quickly born from a large slit running the length of her spine.

The younger form, stitches up Elisabeth's back and adopts the name 'Sue', and is instructed by the mystery supplier to inject a 'Stabiliser' serum extracted from the unconscious Elisabeth each day. The two are instructed to switch bodies every seven days without fail, with one resting unconsciously and drip fed liquid food while the other lives life as normal. Harvey initiates his talent scouts to begin a search for a new host and when Sue is auditioned she is almost instantly hired back onto Elisabeth's old show and fairly quickly reaches the giddy heights of fame and admiration. When Elisabeth is forced to switch bodies with her, however, she continues to struggle with a heightened sense of inadequacy, loneliness and low self-esteem.

The differences between Elisabeth and Sue become ever more obvious, as Elisabeth begins indulging in overeating and alcohol while Sue addictively extracts more Stabiliser to avoid having to switch bodies, causing Elisabeth to age rapidly at first with a dishevelled index finger, then her left leg with her hair thinning and greying and age spots appearing on her face. Elisabeth contacts the supplier, who tells her that she can either keep obeying the switches or terminate the Substance, neither of which will restore her past appearance. Elisabeth relents and continues to abuse the Substance as Sue.

Weeks pass by as Elisabeth is reduced to a haggard, bent over old woman due to Sue's ongoing addiction. When Sue is invited to host a highly anticipated TV network New Year's Eve special, she extracts enough Stabiliser from Elisabeth's spine to be used for the next couple of months. However, on the eve of the special, Sue runs out of Stabiliser and is forced by the supplier to switch back to Elisabeth. To her abject horror, she is now a hairless and deformed hunchback. 

Desperate, Elisabeth calls the mystery supplier again and asks for the Termination serum. She disguises herself in heavy clothing, goes to the nondescript address and obtains a new serum to end Sue's existence. However, still yearning for that feeling of fame and admiration, she stops at the last second and revives Sue, severing their connection. Upon seeing the near-empty serum, Sue is angered by Elisabeth's actions and repeatedly slams her head against the bathroom mirror. Elisabeth crawls to the lounge room where the pair fight with Sue kicking Elisabeth across the room to leave her in a crumpled heap on top of a shattered glass coffee table only for Sue to repeatedly kick Elisabeth to death until she bleeds out. Sue then leaves to go host the New Year's Eve show.

Unable to stabilise herself as a result of Elisabeth's death, Sue's body begins to rapidly deteriorate backstage. First one of her teeth drops out then more leaving gaping holes in her mouth and then her finger nails begin dropping off too. In a frantic bid to save herself, Sue rushes back to the apartment and disobeys the supplier's instructions and tries to create a new version of herself with leftover Activator. Instead, she inadvertently creates 'Monstro Elisasue', a grotesque hybrid monster of the two. Meanwhile, Harvey and his Board of Directors are excitedly keen to see Sue take to the stage and wow the American TV audience on NYE. 

Monstro goes to take Sue's place and shocks the audience into stunned silence as they take in the scene before them at the live broadcast. The horrified spectators quickly descend into violent chaos, culminating in Monstro's head getting decapitated, grotesquely regenerating and bursting with blood. As the audience becomes drenched in Monstro's blood, the hybrid manages to escape outside before collapsing into a bloody heap of viscera.

The face of the original Elisabeth emerges from the remains as a blob, slowly crawling toward her neglected star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Elisabeth finds solace by positioning herself on the star, eventually merging with it as she melts away. The next morning, her bloody remains are cleaned up by a floor scrubber. 

You have to hand it to Coralie Fargeat who for only her second feature film outing has here written and Directed a script that has something to say about the manner in which we perceive beauty, try to cling on to it as we age, and the ever present impact of the media (in all its forms) on how that beauty is viewed. At the same time Fargeat doesn't shy away from the blood and guts that literally spew forth in the third act that make for a mesmerising watch - the like of which you will have trouble seeing anywhere else this year. Demi Moore gives a no holds barred performance which is probably her finest role in a couple of decades, and is ably supported by Margaret Qualley as two sides of the same coin. If your fan of body horror, blood and entrails aplenty all wrapped up in a neat storyline, then this movie is for you . . . and if not there's plenty of other films at your local Odeon to choose from.

'The Substance' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

POOR THINGS : Tuesday 26th December 2023.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'POOR THINGS' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this black comedy fantasy film is Co-Produced and Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos whose prior feature film offerings take in his debut in 2001 with 'My Best Friend' and which he would follow up with 'Dogtooth' in 2009, and then his first English language film 'The Lobster' in 2015, 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' in 2017 and 'The Favourite' in 2018. This film is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. The film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Venice International Film Festival in early September this year where it won the Golden Lion. It was released Stateside earlier this month and is scheduled to be released in the UK on 12th January, having so far grossed US$6M against a production budget of US$35M and garnering universal critical acclaim.

The film opens up in London, Victorian era England where scientist and surgeon Dr. Godwin 'God' Baxter (Willem Dafoe) is performing surgery on a cadaver to an audience of students, who under their breath deride his monstrous appearance. One such student, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) is singled out to become his assistant on the strength of a paper he wrote which grabbed the attention of Baxter. McCandles is welcomed to the grand home of Baxter where he meets with the Doctor's maid Mrs. Prim (Vicki Pepperdine). McCandles is tasked with recording the progress made by Baxter's ward - a childlike young woman named Bella (Emma Stone, who also Co-Produces here), whose intelligence is rapidly developing almost by the day. 

In time, Baxter tells McCandles that the woman who was heavily pregnant at the time, had committed suicide by throwing herself off a bridge into the River Thames, and that she had died only moments before he retrieved the body and that rigour mortis had not yet set in. He resurrected her lifeless corpse by replacing her brain with the brain of her still-living baby, resulting in her now having the mind of an infant child. 

With Baxter's blessing, McCandles asks for Bella's hand in marriage, on the condition that that the pair never leave the house, because of the bad influences, dangers and violence that exists in the world outside the security of their own home. Bella accepts but, desiring freedom to explore the world and experience adventures in her own right as her mind matures, runs off with foppish lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) who was brought in by Baxter to execute a marriage contract, and who became infatuated with Bella upon their first meeting. Reluctantly Baxter agrees to let Bella go. Godwin starts a new experiment with a young woman named Felicity (Margaret Qualley), whose intelligence is developing at a much slower pace than Bella's did.

So Bella and Wedderburn embark on a grand adventure, starting in Lisbon, Portugal where the two have frequent sex. Bella becomes difficult for Duncan to control as she is not yet mature enough to engage in polite social etiquette and just speaks her mind on a whim. So he smuggles her onto a cruise ship for a change of scenery. Once on board, she becomes friendly with passengers Martha (Hannah Schygulla) and Harry (Jerrod Carmichael) who open her mind to philosophy. Wedderburn becomes increasingly exasperated and begins drinking more heavily and gambling. 

During a stop at Alexandria, Egypt, where Harry and Bella are enjoying a lavish lunch, Harry shows Bella the miserable plight of the locals, the abject poverty in which they live and the resultant death of numerous young children and babies, at which Bella becomes distraught and sobs uncontrollably. Returning to her cabin she finds Wedderburn passed out on their bed in a drunken stupor covered in cash from his gambling winnings. Wracked with guilt over the poverty she witnessed she collects up all the cash and donates away the winnings, which are in turn stolen by a couple of opportunistic crew members whom Bella believed she could trust to do the right thing and pass on the cash to the people who desperately needed it the most.

Unable to afford the remaining trip, the pair are kicked off the ship at Marseille, France after which they make their way to Paris. Having run out of money, Bella begins working at a brothel clearing twenty French francs per client, which only serves to further enrage Wedderburn resulting in his mental breakdown, and which finally leads her to abandon him. At the brothel, she comes under the tutelage of Madame Swiney (Kathryn Hunter), has no shortage of clients and befriends fellow prostitute Toinette, (Suzy Bemba) who introduces her to socialism.

Meanwhile, back in London, Baxter is terminally ill. He asks McCandles to locate Bella and to return her to him. McCandles does so after tracking down Wedderburn, who has been confined to an institution following his breakdown. Upon her return to London, Bella reconciles with Baxter and renews her vows with McCandles. The two are interrupted by Wedderburn and General Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott) at the alter on their wedding day, at which Baxter is giving away Bella. 

Blessington, who calls Bella by her former name of Victoria, reveals that they were married before her disappearance and that he has come to reclaim her after Wedderburn posted an ad with a picture of Bella in the newspaper. Bella abandons Max at the alter before exchanging their vows to learn of her past life. She quickly comes to the realisation that her former husband has a violent and sadistic streak and that she had in fact committed suicide to escape their unhappy marriage and to save her unborn child from a life of misery. He basically imprisons Bella to the confines of his mansion and threatens her at gunpoint to submit to genital mutilation after which he will plant his seed inside her, and demands she drink a chloroform-laced cocktail to sedate her for the procedure. She tosses the cocktail in his face, causing him to shoot himself in the foot before succumbing to the chloroform. 

Baxter dies peacefully with Bella and McCandles at his side, with his final words being that his surgery is now hers and that his life has been interesting. Bella decides to carry on Baxters work with the help of McCandles, Toinette and Mrs. Prim. Blessington is seen on the operating table where his brain is swapped with that of a goat, while Felicity's intelligence is finally improving. Bella is seen in the garden of her London home with a cocktail in one hand and studying from a book for her final medical exams. 

For me 'Poor Things' failed to land in the same way that it does with the majority of other critics who have given the film its almost universal blessing. That said, you can't help but admire Director Yorgos Lanthimos and his creation of a steampunk bizarro world of OTT characters, locales and emotions writ large mostly by a never been better and a career defining performance by Emma Stone, an equally far removed from his usual roles Mark Ruffalo, and the always dependable Willem Dafoe channeling Doctor Frankenstein. The production values and costume designs are all top notch and look as though Lanthimos squeezed out very cent from his US$35M production budget to bring us a film that looks greater than the sum of its parts. However, this film is hard to pigeon hole, and at a run time of 141 minutes and a film that feels more like an absurdist sex comedy than an intellectual coming of age fantasy drama I couldn't help but feel just a little meh! after all the explicit sex scenes and the vividly rendered set pieces.

'Poor Things' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE NICE GUYS : Thursday 26th May 2016

'THE NICE GUYS' which I saw on the opening day of its Australian release is Directed and Co-Written by Shane Black and having received its Premier at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month, it's US release on Friday 20th May, and arriving on our Australian shores this week, this odd-couple buddy comedy mystery film set in late-70's Los Angeles has so far received much critical acclaim, and US$24M from its US$50M outlay.






Starring Russell Crowe as Jackson Healy a street smart, hard hitting shoot first ask questions later enforcer for hire who is fighting his own demons including keeping off the alcohol, struggling with the way the world is changing and fearful he's getting old before his time, and who seems to be relationship phobic except with his tank full of fish. He lives in a bedsit above a bar, and that basically is his world, wrapped up in a blue leather jacket that is so well worn it could probably stand up on its own.

Then there is Holland March (Ryan Gosling) - a down on his luck worse ex-cop ever private eye who comes with his own set of baggage including teenage daughter Holly (Angourie Rice) whose smarts more often than not keep her dad in check, an alcohol problem being rarely seen without a stiff drink in his hand, an aversion to the sight of blood - especially when it's his own seen pouring profusely from his cut wrist, and dodgy investigative practices that if it weren't for his daughter would see him on the wrong side of the law more often than not.

The two join forces unexpectedly to track down a missing young girl Amelia Kutner (Margaret Qualley) following the tragic & untimely death of a porn star Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio). Hired by the porn stars grieving aunt who claims to have seen Misty alive following her alleged death, March takes on the case realising that there might be a link to the missing girl. It turns out that the missing girl is not really missing at all, but is just AWOL not wanting to be discovered by her mother Judith Kutner (Kim Bassinger) a high ranking official in the Department of Justice who claims her daughter is delusional and suffering paranoia. It turns out that Amelia and Misty Mountains were making an 'experimental' porn film together - part porn and part investigative expose about the LA smog and the car manufacturing giants that have contributed to it through exhaust emissions - that they plan to air unannounced at the upcoming LA Auto Show. Amelia hires Healy to get March of her case, which is how the two odd-balls come together in the first place although it doesn't end so well for March, but they soon come to realise they need each other.

The pair quickly learn that there are equally dangerous unscrupulous individuals hot on Amelia's trail too including the Older Guy (Keith David) and Blue Face (Beau Knapp). and that there is much more to this case than simply a missing person, as various persons of interest wind up dead during the course of their investigation. These include young Dean - the film maker whose house mysteriously burnt down with him in it, and with it the roll of film containing the 'experimental film'. Additionally, the money behind the film, financed by Sid Shattack - a king pin in the LA porn scene at the time, winds up very dead too with his face smashed in and discovered by accident one night at the bottom of a hill, that March tumbles down while at a party.

While Amelia pops up at various points in the film being very elusive, we learn that there is a second roll of film stashed away somewhere, that possibly Misty's aunt may be able to lead them to given the earlier claims she made to having seen the porn star alive after being reported dead. They visit Misty's house and find secret projection equipment, and deduce that the Aunt must have seen an image of Misty projected onto the wall in the house, and therefore a second roll of film is confirmed. But there are various nefarious crims closing in on the trail, including a hired hit man John Boy (Matt Bomer) who will stop at nothing to take out Amelia and prevent her from going public about what she knows, and well as Older Guy and Blue Face. The web of intrigue deepens as Healy and March, following a shoot out with John Boy, seek to bring the matter to the courts based on what they know - that the government and the media joined forces to down play the automotive industry's part in exhaust emissions and suppressing catalytic converters, but they have no evidence and so their case is dismissed.

Everything hinges on real evidence, and so they question Chett (Jack Kilmer) a young projectionist who worked on the film with Misty, Amelia and Dean, who they find beaten up in a dumpster at the hotel where the LA Auto Show is having its opening night. The other thugs have already got to him and he tells Healy & March that he has spliced the film into the opening presentation film which will be projected from a hotel window down onto the screen below. The chase is on to get to the projector and the film first and prevent its broadcast, and as both sides clash there are inevitable deaths before the roll of film is saved and the evidence secured. Whilst the case comes before the courts it is dismissed  and the Detroit car companies are not held guilty, and Judith Kutner is found not guilty of any cover up claiming she was acting in the best interest as a mother for her daughter and stating too 'what is good for Detroit, is good for America' . . . if only she could have seen thirty years into the future!!!

Crowe and Gosling clearly share an onscreen chemistry that make this an enjoyable and engaging romp through a late 70's LA that delivers conspiracies, thugs and underworld crims, violence, moments of humour and a touch of noir that round out the package quite nicely. Both show off their comedic talents well, and in this respect Gosling is the surprise in all of this as he does so with pathos and in an understated and believable way. While Crowe is perfectly at home with his bully-boy no-nonsense style - the two riff off each other in a fear and loathing yin-yang kinda way until the end when their exploits on this case bring them together as they launch their new investigative agency - 'The Nice Guys'! Certainly worth the price of your ticket and I can see that if this does well enough, there could well be a sequel in the offing!

  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-