AN AMERICAN PICKLE : Tuesday 29th September 2020.

'AN AMERICAN PICKLE' which I saw at my local multiplex this week is a PG Rated American comedy drama offering Directed by first timer Brandon Trost, although he was worked as Cinematographer on numerous other Hollywood films including 2009's 'Halloween II', 'Ghost Rider : Spirit of Vengeance', 'This is the End', 'Neighbors', 'The Interview', 'Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse', 'Neighbors 2 : Sorority Rising', 'The Disaster Artist', 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?' and 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile'. Based on the 2013 short story 'Sell Out' by Simon Rich, it seems that Seth Rogan (who appears in dual roles and also Co-Produces here) and Rich began discussing the concept for a film back in 2007. Released digitally in the US in early August, and in theatres in the UK shortly thereafter, the film cost US$20M to produce, has so far taken just US$168K, and has received mostly mixed or average Reviews. 

The film opens up in 1919 with a man digging a long road side ditch, with grey skies overhead and looked upon by his horse nonchalantly. At first the wooden handle of the shovel he is using snaps. Then the wooden blade of the shovel breaks in two, leaving the man to get down on his knees and shovel out the wet dirt with his bare hands - such is his commitment to his task. He then returns home to his village of Slupsk where we see him digging another trench along the side of the road, when his eye is caught by a woman attempting to haggle with a market vendor over the price of smoked fish. Instantly we learn that the man, whose name is Herschel Greenbaum (Seth Rogen) is captivated by the fair maiden that in time he asks for her hand in marriage. And so Sarah (Sarah Snook) becomes Mrs. Greenbaum, and on the occasion of their wedding day in front of the gathered citizens of Slupsk, the Russian Cossacks invade the village killing almost everyone in sight and burning down many buildings. Only Herschel and Sarah seem to survive. 

As a result, the pair of struggling Jewish labourers, albeit happily married, decide to emigrate to America. Herschel lands a job at a pickle factory, with the task of killing as many of the rats that infest the property as he can possibly find. One day however, the rats appear to turn on him, and out of fright he falls backwards from on high into a vat of pickles immediately before the factory is condemned and closed down. The vat is sealed with a lid, and all the workers in the factory down tools and exit the premises as it is sealed shut. Before doing so however, Herschel was able to make one of Sarah's dreams come true, and that was that he was able to save up enough money to buy two grave plots at a Jewish cemetery. 

One hundred years later two lads while flying a drone, lose control of it and it flies into the now long abandoned derelict pickling factory. Venturing inside searching for their lost drone, they happen across the vat and lift off the lid. Almost immediately springing to life is Herschel, who has been pickled in brine for the past one hundred years, and as such is perfectly preserved just as the day he fell in. Having undergone a series of tests and attracted much media attention in the process, Herschel learns that Sarah died in 1939, but that he has one sole surviving relative living in Brooklyn - his great grandson Ben (Seth Rogen). 

Ben takes Herschel back to his apartment where he works from home as a freelance app developer and has been developing his own app 'Boop Bop' for the past five years. The app provides a service that checks companies' ethics when buying their products, and Ben is on the cusp of securing funding to take his app to the next level. Ben reluctantly agrees to go with Herschel to the cemetery where Sarah and his son are buried, together with Ben's parents also buried close by. Herschel is disgusted to find that the cemetery was left in complete disrepair and is now located underneath a freeway flyover along with a Russian vanilla vodka billboard overlooking it. This causes him to assault the construction workers putting up the billboard believing them to be Cossacks, which ultimately results in his and Ben's arrest.

Ben bails them out of jail using what little inheritance he has left over from his parents however, the investors he was courting for his app now withdraw their funding due to his new criminal record, causing him to disown Herschel, as that is five years of work down the drain. Herschel storms out of the apartment and decides to begin a pickle business in order to buy and take down the billboard overlooking the cemetery. Herschel's business in no time becomes a big success over social media, aided by his hipster looks and his real unique artisanal pickling and bottling process. 

However, Ben secretly calls the New York health department and tells them that Herschel has been using produce found in grocery store garbage bins, causing him to be forbidden from trading and fined US$12,000. A couple of local supporters, Christian and Kevin (Eliot Glazer and Kalen Allen respectively) tell Herschel that he could utilise the assistance of unpaid interns to pickle, bottle, promote and sell his briny cucumbers resulting in his business becoming even more successful and allowing him to upgrade the cemetery and remove the offensive billboard. Herschel's greater success leads to Ben envying him even more.

Next up Ben then taunts Herschel about Twitter, which Herschel is completely ignorant about, but his curiosity is sparked. And so he begins tweeting controversial statements, which he has his intern Assistant Clara (Molly Evensen) post on his behalf verbatim. While initially met with protests and boycotts, Herschel is quickly regarded as a master of free speech and empowerment. One day while Herschel is hosting a friendly debate, Ben shows up in disguise and using a false tone of voice questions his thoughts on Christianity. This leads Herschel to rant about Christianity, causing the public to turn on him and chase him down the street. His immigration papers also appear lost in time, causing the government to try and deport him.

Herschel breaks into Ben's apartment through the window, and pleads with Ben to get him across the border into Canada. Ben reluctantly agrees. Ten miles from the border with Canada and now on foot traipsing thorough the snow covered woodland, Ben and Herschel begin to reconcile their relationship. Ben comes clean that he deliberately sabotaged Herschel's business on three separate occasions, causing Herschel to admit that he is saddened that Ben is more committed to his app than his family's legacy. This leads to the pair getting into a fist fight. Herschel steals Ben's backpack, and uses his razor to shave and puts on his spare packed clothes to pose as Ben, alerting the police that the real Ben is Herschel. This causes the real Ben's arrest and deportation back to Slupsk.

Taking up residence at Ben's apartment, Herschel one evening is looking through an old photograph album of Ben's when out falls a picture hand drawn by a much younger Ben. On the picture he learns that the app's name, 'Boop Bop', was actually the nickname Ben gave to his late parents, leading Herschel to realise that family was in fact always close to Ben's heart. He returns to his home country to find Ben, who had taken refuge at a local synagogue. They reconcile, and sometime later return to Brooklyn, hoping to develop a pickle-selling website and take their salty pickled cucumber sales worldwide.

I have to say that I was a little surprised by 'An American Pickle' in that my fairly low expectations going in were easily surpassed. The satirical moments right from the opening frames is on point and made me chuckle to myself on numerous occasions. Whilst this film won't go down in history as one of the great comedies of our time, Seth Rogen here more than proves his acting chops in dual roles playing opposite sides of the same Yiddish coin creating two very different characters each with their own distinct idiosyncrasies. The script labours at times in its preposterousness, but is saved by the strong performances, the humour (which at times is far from PC), the sight gags and the questions it asks about the importance of family, their legacy and tradition, and how can we in the present learn from the lessons of the past to shape our future.  

'An American Pickle' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

WINCHESTER : Tuesday 27th February 2018.

'WINCHESTER' which I saw earlier this week is based on a true story and is a supernatural horror film as Directed by the Australian Spierig brothers - Michael and Peter - whose previous credits include their excellent 2014 film 'Predestination'. The 'Winchester' in question here refers to one Sarah Winchester who was the widow and recipient of her late husbands fortune - William Wirt Winchester - the firearm magnate of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 43 in 1881. After his death, Sarah rose to notoriety for building the property in San Jose, California, that came to be known as the Winchester Mystery House - a Queen Anne Style Victorian mansion that was/is renowned for its size, its architectural curiosities, and its lack of any master building plan. Since its construction began in 1884, the property and mansion were claimed by many to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles. Under Sarah Winchester's day-to-day guidance, its 'from-the-ground-up' construction proceeded around the clock, by some accounts, without interruption, until her death in early September 1922, at which time work immediately ceased. The house today stands as a tourist attraction, is privately owned, and is a Californian registered historical landmark. This film was made for a very modest US$3.5M and has so far grossed US$28M since its release Stateside early in February.

History lesson over and so to the film. Said to be the most haunted house in the world, the Winchester House sits on an isolated stretch of land that's about fifty miles outside of San Francisco on about 160 acres. Built by Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren starring in her first horror film in her illustrious forty+ year career) heiress to the Winchester fortune, it stands seven stories tall and contains some 160 rooms including forty bedrooms, two ballrooms as well as 47 fireplaces, over ten thousand panes of glass, seventeen chimneys, two basements and three elevators.

The Winchester company is fearful for Sarah's state of mind and her ability to run the company as a 51% shareholder who also inherited US$20M from her late husbands estate (a very tidy sum back in the late 19th Century). Sarah is in a state of self imposed grieving - for the loss of her husband some years earlier, and the loss of their young daughter previously. Having consulted a psychic, she set about building the mansion - a process which continues unabated 24/7 by a dedicated team of craftsmen round the clock, day in day out. To the casual outsider, it seems like a misplaced monument to a disturbed woman's madness. But Sarah is constructing a 'prison' for hundreds of vengeful ghosts and the most terrifying among them have a score to settle with this Winchester. She believes that the house is haunted by the wayward spirits, anxious apparitions, and cursed by the ghosts of those killed by a Winchester firearm.

The Directors of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company engage Doctor Eric Price (Jason Clarke) to assess Sarah's state of mind, paying him his asking price and doubling it, and seeking a written report quickly. Doctor Price has his own demons to contend with - he too is grieving the loss of his wife, and has become reliant upon a drug that he self prescribes. He drinks a lot too, and when we first make his acquaintance he is 'entertaining' four prostitutes in his San Francisco home. He takes the assignment and upon arriving at the Winchester House is met by Sarah's relative Marion Marriott (Sarah Snook) who lives in the house too with her son Henry (Finn Scicluna-O'Prey) who at night is possessed by a mysterious entity and witnesses strange goings on in his bedroom.

Initially Marion is sceptical of Price, and reinforces the strict rules of the household which he must uphold as long as he is in residence, to which he cordially agrees. That first evening while preparing for dinner, Price is startled by a ghostly vision which he attributes to the hallucinogenic effects of the drug he is taking. At dinner, Price meets Sarah for the first time with Marion and Henry in attendance too, overseen by an army of servants waiting on. Later that night Price goes for an exploratory walk, coming across a stairway down to a basement, where he comes face to face with a ghost crawling menacingly up the stairs towards him. He scrambles from whence he came, and goes outside for a breath of fresh air, again dismissing the whole incident. He is met by several craftsmen all busily building away and spies Henry in a translike state standing on a ledge two or three stories up, and then topple over. Price runs to him and breaks the young lads fall, which is witnessed by both Sarah and Marion.

The next day Price begins his assessment of Sarah's state of mind and her mental health. She admits to him her fear of ghosts, but firmly believes that she can help those troubled spirits move on to a better place. Again, later that night, Price goes walkabout throughout the house and comes across Sarah seemingly possessed scrawling away at a jotter pad with a pencil, drawing up plans for another room refurbishment. Again, he is startled by some kind of mysterious entity and makes a quick exit back to his bedroom.

The next day in conversation, Sarah reveals that in a bookcase she has volumes and volumes of records of those persons killed by a Winchester rifle, and Price's name is amongst them. It comes to light that Eric was actually killed by a Winchester rifle and was dead for three minutes before being revived. The bullet was extracted from his chest, and he had the casing refilled and resealed and the inscription 'Together Forever' engraved on the side. He keeps the bullet with him at all times as a reminder, and as a connection to the past, adds Sarah. Sarah also states that numerous rooms in the house are boarded up and secured with thirteen nails to keep the spirits locked securely away, but there is a particularly violent and troubled spirit that has manifested itself that she wants to help move on.

Later the day after, Price and Marion talk about the ghosts that Sarah believes in. Marion does not subscribe to her point of view, but while they talk, Henry, armed with a Winchester rifle secured from a newly refurbished room exhibiting every Winchester rifle type ever sold, goes on the rampage with the intent of shooting Sarah dead. He comes pretty close too, but is stopped from doing so, having fired several bullets, by Price and Marion. The spirit that possessed Henry leaves him, and at this point Sarah realises how violent this particular entity can be. Sarah dismisses her staff and is determined to confront the spirit herself and rid her home of it.

As Eric is calling for a doctor to treat Henry, he is confronted by a Butler. Later in conversation with Sarah it transpires that the Butler is in fact one Benjamin Brock (Eamon Farren) a confederate soldier whose two brothers were killed in the Civil War by Winchester rifles. Brock was so traumatised by his loss that he entered the Winchester Offices armed with a Winchester rifle and proceeded to shoot dead all the staff working at that time, before the Police arrived and shot him dead. Brock's spirit had been possessing Henry, and the newly refurbished display room replicated the Offices where Brock was gunned down by Police after his massacre of the employees there.

As Price and Sarah talk in the display room, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake hits causing widespread devastation to the house and splitting the pair. Henry meanwhile has been possessed again by Brock and flees, chased by Marion who goes in search of her young son. Price gains access to the previously sealed off Garden Room (a place that the Winchester House has in common with his own home in San Francisco, hence the interest) and there he encounters the spirit of his dead wife Ruby. Here it is revealed that Ruby was mentally unstable and it was she who shot Price dead and then turned the Winchester rifle on herself. an act that is repeated here. Ruby's ghost comforts Price urging him to help Sarah. As Price regains consciousness he is confronted by a multitude of ghosts all staring down at him, pointing him in Sarah's direction.

While all this is going Marion has located Henry in the basement of the house where they are cornered by the spirits of Brock's two dead brothers. Price forces his way through the rubble of the house back into the display room where Sarah is located, and together they manage to trap the spirit of Brock in the room with them. Brock attempts to kill Sarah. The pair come to the realisation that Brock is afraid of the bullet that Price had retained, and furthermore this is what connects him to the spirits that he is now able to see. Price picks up the very rifle that Brock used in his massacre at the Winchester Offices, and loads his bullet into it. He takes aim, and fires, so banishing Brock from this world.

And so Price, Sarah, Marion and Henry are saved. Price later declares that Sarah is perfectly sane in his written report to the Winchester Board and therefore fit to retain control of her company. Upon leaving, Price and Sarah stand outside the house viewing the repair works already well under way to restore the home to its former glory, with the addition of still more rooms in which to help more wayward and lost spirits.

This is an interesting premise for a film, grounded, albeit loosely, in a turn of the century true story that promises so much, yet ultimately fails to deliver. The period is recreated reasonably faithfully, the films aesthetic looks convincing enough (apart from some questionable CGI shots but this is only a minor criticism), the performances from the three leads (Mirren, Clarke and Snook) are solid enough, and the dialogue is careful and considered throughout. But, despite a few jump scares this is a fairly standard by the numbers run 'o' the mill offering that provides little new that we haven't seen before in plenty of other similar haunted house movies. For a house offering a full labyrinth of rooms, corridors, hallways and staircases from which to truly imbue a story, we are offered a restricted view of only a small part of the mansion that is surely a missed opportunity to truly flesh out this tale of nether world entities. All this adds up to a film that urges to be taken seriously, but ultimately proves to be predictable, a little silly and tongue in cheek fun instead, and not particularly original.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

PREDESTINATION - Tuesday 2nd September 2014.

Earlier this week I saw 'PREDESTINATION' at the Cremorne Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, and now I commend this film to you as amongst one of the best of 2014! This is truly an original, inventive,  and innovative piece of film making by Queensland's Director, Producer and Screenplay writing Spierig Brothers, who have delivered us a gripping story, twists & turns aplenty, memorable performances, a visual feast and an intricate plot that will keep you talking and pondering long after the credits have rolled.

Based on the Robert A. Heinlan short story 'All You Zombies' and filmed in Melbourne, Victoria on a modest budget, this erstwhile film punches well above its weight. This is a Sci-Fi time travelling movie - but not as you know it! 'Looper' was the last decent time travel film I saw, and this bears no resemblance! This film is based in the past - the recent past - with the action never taking us beyond the early-1990's, with the bulk of the action occurring in the 1960's and 70's with the occasional jaunt 'back home' into the 80's. I won't be giving too much away when I tell you that time travel was invented in 1981 for the purposes of this film, as we are told in one line of dialogue.

The principal cast is Ethan Hawke (as 'The Bartender'), Noah Taylor  (as Mr. Robertson) and Sarah Snook (as 'The Unmarried Mother') and the bulk of the action and dialogue is delivered by these three - all of whom are on fine form. Special mention however, must go to Sarah Snook who delivers a simply stunning performance that is sure to catapult her onto the radar of every Hollywood Casting Director from this film forward. Her performance is nuanced, brave and laid bare before us and the film is so much richer for it - simply put - she is brilliant!

And so to the plot! The film opens with a mysterious man attempting to diffuse a ticking bomb in an underground chamber somewhere in New York in 1975. This bomb we learn was set by a notorious bomb terrorist known as 'The Fizzle Bomber' and his actions continue to add to an ever increasing body count. During the attempted diffusing things go awry and our mystery man is injured and his face and head are badly burned. He wakes up seven or so years later in a hospital bed bandaged up, which when later removed reveal a reconstructed face (belonging to Ethan Hawke). We learn he is a 'Temporal Agent' - one of only a select few who are able to travel through time to alter the outcomes of certain events for a better future. He operates as part of a secret organisation under the watchful eye of Mr. Robertson - a sharp suited man, intelligent, dry, but also one of the select few! He has unfinished business with The Fizzle Bomber, which means he must go back to 1975 to prevent what has already occurred and in doing so save the lives of thousands of New York's citizens . . . but at what cost?

In going back he assumes the identity of a Bartender where he engages in a deep and meaningful conversation with a male patron one evening whom we learn is a writer of 'True Confessions' - pulp magazine fiction, under the nom du plume of 'The Unmarried Mother' (Sarah Snook). During this lengthy bar-set dialogue (which in itself is gripping) we learn of his back-story, and the key elements that must be deciphered to understand the twists and turns, the convolutions, the time travelling to-ing and fro-ing, and the possibilities surrounding the relationship between each of the three main characters. All of this will set your head buzzing with a visual and mental feast that will keep you guessing right up to the closing frames of the film, and thereafter as you debate the possibilities of what you have seen on screen.

To tell you more in this Review will be to give away too much - suffice to say this in intelligent, thoughtful, stylish film-making at its best, and one of the must-see movies of this year. I loved this film, and I am confident you will too!

   

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 28th August 2014.

A fist full of films for your cinematic consideration over the coming week that range from the experimental, the Sci-Fi fantastic, the largely predictable, the local long arm of the law, and another Sci-Fi that you may have seen before . . . or maybe not! Down Under it is the last week of Winter and Springtime beckons with the promise of longer days and warmer evenings - but, having been in the grip of an almost continuous deluge for the last two weeks there is no better time to get out to your local movie theatre for an evening of great entertainment in front of the big screen to forget about the rain and steal yourself off to someplace else!

When you have done that drop me at line at this, your trusted filmic Blog, and let me and my other Reader know what you thought of your big screen experience by recording it in the Comments sections following immediately after every Post. Thanks!

LOCKE (Rated MA15+) - Ivan Locke is played by Tom Hardy, and he occupies all 90 minutes or so of screen time at the wheel of his car driving down an English Motorway from Point A to Point B. He will step out of his car eventually a very different man to when he stepped in, and this is the central premise of the film - handled deftly by relative newcomer Director, Stephen Knight who also wrote the Screenplay. As the film begins Locke we learn is a construction worker leaving his building site place of work - he is a respected worker and a committed family man. He jumps into his car to begin his journey and along the way through the darkness of night, his family life will crumble away and his career will implode as he unburdens himself en route with what will be the biggest mistake of his life. All this occurs through phone conversations he has with other key players in his life during his journey. These other actors are not seen, simply heard over the speaker phone in the car but give compelling voice performances to make this taught, tight and gripping from start to end. This coupled with dazzling night time lights, the darkness and solitude of Locke's vehicle, his own musings broken up by telephone calls, and his muffled sounds contemplating the magnitude of his actions should make for compelling viewing from an actor who is quickly establishing himself at the top of his form.

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (Rated PG) - another year and another Woody Allen film - this time a period piece set on the Cote d'Azur in the early 20's. We find Englishman abroad, Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth who is in just about a new film every fortnight right now!) who plays Chinese magician by night and a debunker of all things mystic, psychic and paranormal during the day. He crosses paths with American clairvoyant Sophie Baker (Emma Stone) engaged by rich well-to-do socialite Grace Catledge (Jacki Weaver) to connect with her dearly departed husband. Needless to say Crawford is less than impressed . . . initially, but in time comes to believe in Baker's powers - despite that fact too that as an old letch advanced enough in years to be her father, he is drawn to her beauty -  physical, mental and emotional. This looks good, and it seems that Allen has recreated the era very well, and predictably it will doubtless contain all the usual Allen touchstones with which we have become all too familiar. Is this in the same vein as his recent 'Blue Jasmine' - methinks not, but is likely to be enjoyable fluff for ardent Allen fans!

PREDESTINATION (Rated MA15+) - Directed and Written by Australian brothers Michael and Peter Spierig this is going to mess with your mind in a way that 'Inception' did - but in a good way and leave you musing over it for long after the credits have rolled. As the film opens we are in 1975 New York where a man is attempting to diffuse a bomb set by the mysterious 'Fizzle Bomber', but things go awry and he awakens in the future, in hospital and with a new face (this is Ethan Hawke, our time travelling hero of the piece) who is now a 'temporal agent' that can travel through time with a portable device he carries around in a violin case. He needs to go back to that time, but can do so with a whole new persona to go incognito (becoming 'The Bartender'), and so ultimately thwart the Fizzle Bomber and his/her evil plot. Along the way The Bartender encounters a strange man who goes by the name of 'The Unmarried Mother' (played in a career defining best by Australian Sarah Snook) from whom he must eek out the truth, and her connection with The Fizzle Bomber. There are twists & turns aplenty here to keep you guessing all the way to the end in what has been described as intelligent, original and brave film making that is sure to find it's place in the annals of Sci-Fi cult classic.

FELONY (Rated M) - Writen, Produced and Starring our own Joel Edgerton, 'Felony' is his offering to the gritty Police drama seen from the perspective of Sydney's mean streets with its dark underbelly, on both sides of the law! Following a successful drug bust, Detective Malcolm Toohey (Joel Edgerton) drives himself home after a night of celebration under the influence of alcohol, and is involved in an car accident that leaves a young lad in a coma. The following investigation sees young cop Jim Melic (Jai Courtney) and old hand Detective Carl Summer (Tom Wilkinson) working to uncover the truth or cover it up, and in doing so just how far will these three Policemen go to let the truth be told, or conceal it forever! With a strong cast that also includes Melissa George, this has some great hallmarks of a true big screen Aussie Drama that we can turn on so well when we want to!

EARTH TO ECHO (Rated PG) - this is a 'found footage' style of film involving three young lads who have spent their lives together (Tuck, Munch & Alex) - up until now, and that is all about to change when the Las Vegas suburb in which they live is to be uprooted to make way for a new highway. Spending their last week together before they all relocate with their respective families to the far flung corners of the US they experience strange and weird things happening with mobile phone signals, and all manner of sounds and messages emanating from the handsets across the suburb . . . but only within the suburb. The construction company working on the new highway believe it is their fault, and so hand out new phones to the locals thinking this will cure the problem. What Munch discovers from an image he receives is that it matches a desert some 20 miles away, and so the lads decide they had better investigate. Going undercover of darkness having spun a yarn to their unsuspecting parents, and taking local young hot chic, Emma, along too, they venture out in to the desert armed only with each other for support, their wits and a torch. They discover a small and friendly alien robot who has become stranded on Planet Earth -  they call it 'Echo', and quickly learn that our pint sized robot needs spare electrical parts to repair his space ship so he can return home (are you thinking 'E.T.' here or 'Super 8' as I am?). So the lads come to the rescue with trouble along the way in the form of Government Officials also hot on the trail of a crashed UFO somewhere in the vicinity. Needless to say all undoubtedly ends well; the lads discover something about themselves, each other and their friendship; and everyone returns home - some further away than others!

Some solid entertainment choices to tempt you out to your local multiplex this coming week! So pay a visit and let me know what you think!

Movies - see as many as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THESE FINAL HOURS - Friday 1st August 2014

What would you do if you knew that your future didn't extend beyond the next 12 hours? What would you do if it were your last day on Earth? What would you do if you knew that everyone you know, all you own, everyone and everything you care about, and everything about your very existence were to be destroyed by the end of today by a cataclysmic event? This is the big question and the central premise upon which new Australian film - 'THESE FINAL HOURS' is based, and this little low budget offering would rank as one of the best Australian films in recent years!

I saw this yesterday, and make no mistake - this is not your mega budget effects laden Hollywood epic end-of-the-world telling the like of which we have seen in 'Armageddon', 'The Day After Tomorrow', '2012', 'Deep Impact', 'The Core' and more!. This film is so much more grounded than the Michael Bay, Roland Emmerich actioners we have been fed in the past, and surrounds ordinary Western Australian folk who know that the end is coming, and there is no escape - the world will end and everyone and everything will be destroyed in 12 short hours from now!

As the film opens we see an asteroid within Earth's atmosphere hurtling ever closer, and we know as a lone voice narrates through the film on AM radio (a convincing and pragmatic David Field) that the point of contact is the northern Atlantic Ocean. With Perth and its surrounding suburbs as the backdrop to this story, we are introduced to James (Nathan Phillips) and girlfriend Zoe (Jessica De Gouw) who contemplate their final hours - she wants to remain at the beach house where they have spent the night, as it is here where she holidayed as a child and where she wants to die when the end comes. James is intent of partying hard and ensuring that when the end comes he is so numb from drugs and alcohol that he won't be able to feel the pain. And so James leaves for destination party! He drives through Perth's suburbs - large houses, wide streets, clear blue skies, but in the distance the tall towers of Perth's CBD are alight and billowing smoke, the street scape is littered with burnt out cars, garbage bins are overturned, there is a corpse hanging from a lamp-post, messages have been spray pained to cars and houses - there is wanton destruction at almost every turn and random acts of murder in the street!

Having to abandon his car to save his own life from a crazed machete wielding madman he strays upon two guys who have abducted young girl Rose (Angourie Rice), have her locked up and seem to be intent on having their way with her later on. Hearing Rose scream he enters the house armed with a hammer, a fight ensues, and fortunately for Rose James emerges victorious. Rose has become lost from her father whom she is desperate to reunite with so that they can be together at the end. James just wants to party, get stoned, get drunk and get laid, but, he reluctantly agrees to take Rose to where she thinks her father will be. All the while the clock is ticking down as the voice on the AM radio tells us that Europe, the eastern United States and western Africa have been wiped out - destroyed - gone!

We are further advised as the story unfolds that the resultant fire storm created by the impact will peel away the Earths crust like an orange, and nothing will survive. There is no escaping this impending disaster -  there are no soaring Presidential speeches to stir the citizens into some kind of defencive action, nations do not unite in the face of their common emergency, science will not prevail, God will not intervene, and there are no marauding intergalactic aliens that have delivered this misery upon our fair green planet!

As the day progresses an unlikely friendship develops between James and Rose as they travel from point to point in search of her father, along the way taking in the house where his sister and family live and then his mother. Everywhere they go they encounter more death, destruction, violence, suicide, and debauchery as life no longer for these short hours that remain has any consequence, or meaning. They make it to party central hosted by his good mate Freddy (Daniel Henshall) but this is not all that it's cracked up to be as James tussles with his new found responsibility to Rose who still remains separated from her father. Several roadblocks arise at this party to end all parties which James has to navigate so he and Rose can exit safely - and as the hour approaches and we learn from the lone radio broadcaster that Africa has gone, as has most of Asia now, James and Rose make it to where her father and family should be, but here too all is not quite what it seems and Rose has to come to terms with some awful truths. James leaves - not though to return to party central but to reunite with his previously abandoned love Zoe.

This film is grim, dark, harrowing, brutal and poignant all at once. For a small budget Australian take on the end of the world apocalypse, the performances are solid, the effects whilst used sparingly are handled with a deft touch, and the story resonates and will make you think long after the credits have rolled - as it has with me! When ordinary folk are confronted with extraordinary circumstances and there are no longer any responsibilities, accountabilities, consequences or repercussions for your actions, how would live out your last 12 hours? Think about that one!

  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-