A11 dompost.co.nz THE DOMINION POST THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013
CULTURE
AT THE MOVIESOPENINGTHE WAY, WAY BACK✪✪✪✪Comedy (M, drug references, sexualreferences).Coming-of-age comedy fromcomedic actors and screenwritersJim Rash and Nat Faxon (TheDescendants), starring Steve Carell,Toni Collette, Alison Janney,AnnaSophia Robb and Sam Rockwell.‘‘The story of a teen desperate for afather figure who findsencouragement from a wild-and-crazy water-park employee – ratherthan from the guy auditioning to behis stepdad – can be explosivelyfunny in parts, but overall feelspretty familiar, relying more on itscast than the material to win favour.’’– Variety.
PAIN & GAIN✪✪✪Action-thriller (R18, violence,offensive language, drug use, sexscenes).True-crime dramatisation aboutthree Miami bodybuilders who botcha kidnapping. Michael Bay directsDwyane Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, EdHarris and Rebel Wilson. ‘‘It all leavesyou pondering whether you have justseen a monumentally stupid movieor a brilliant movie about the natureand consequences of stupidity.’’ –New York Times.
EVENTNZ INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVALClosing highlights include A Touch ofSin, Much Ado About Nothing,Giselle, Maniac, The Gatekeepers, DialM For Murder 3-D and Only LoversLeft Alive (Various venues, untilSunday.)
CONTINUINGNOW YOU SEE ME✪✪Thriller (M, violence, sexualreferences, offensive language).Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, IslaFisher and Woody Harrelson playbank-robbing illusionists. ‘‘Althoughthe concept is passably inventive, theexecution is lazy and slip shod.’’ –Graeme Tuckett.
LOOKING FOR HORTENSE✪✪✪Comedy/drama (M, offensivelanguage, sexual references, drugreferences).‘‘The characters in the loquaciousGallic dramedy Cherchez Hortensearen’t looking for Hortense so muchas for ways to survive a stagnantmarriage, and for the courage to dealwith things they would prefer toignore.’’ – Variety.
ONLY GOD FORGIVES✪✪Thriller (R18, Sadistic violence, sexualthemes, offensive language).American-in-exile Ryan Gosling, whoruns a Bangkok boxing club as afront for drug smuggling, discovershis brother’s killer is a retired cop.‘‘God may forgive you for seeing thisneedlessly brutal film. But you won’tforgive yourself.’’ – USA Today.
THE WOLVERINE (3-D)✪✪✪Fantasy (M, violence, offensivelanguage).In his second solo outing, the X-Manbattles a Japanese industrialist whowants to extract Wolverine’s near-immortality. ‘‘Between the highs, TheWolverine finds the same lows as itspredecessor.’’ – Graeme Tuckett.
PING PONG✪✪✪✪Documentary (PG, coarse language).Follows a handful of octogenariancompetitors en route to China for theOver-80s World Table TennisChampionships. ‘‘Funny, touching,unsentimental and hugelyentertaining.’’ – Graeme Tuckett.
FAREWELL, MY QUEEN✪✪✪✪Drama (M, nudity).‘‘A distanced but extraordinarilyatmospheric costumer set in theheady (in the sense of pre-guillotine)final days of Versailles amid thecommotion of the dawning FrenchRevolution, Farewell, My Queen is avisual joy, even while its tale of alower-class girl at court infatuatedwith the Queen of France labours tosay something relevant.’’ – TheHollywood Reporter.
THE WORLD’S END✪✪✪✪Comedy (R13, violence, offensivelanguage, sexual references).Five mates reunite for a pub crawl ina village overrun by killer robots fromouter space. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost,Paddy Considine, Martin Freemanand Rosamund Pike star. ‘‘Trulyfunny, smarter and more ambitiousthan it needed to be.’’ – GraemeTuckett.
EPIC (3-D)✪✪✪Animation (PG, low-level violence).A teenage girl and an elite band ofwarriors try to stop evil forces fromdestroying their world. ‘‘Gorgeousvisuals aside, Epic is resolutely kiddiefare.’’ – Total Film.
THE CONJURING✪✪✪✪Horror (R16, horror and content thatmay disturb).Two families are terrorised by
demonic forces. James Wan (Saw,Insidious) directs Vera Farmiga,Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston andLili Taylor. ‘‘Pull-out-the-stops horrorfilm-making of a very sophisticatedorder.’’ – Variety.
PRIVATE PEACEFUL✪✪✪✪Drama (M, battle violence).Two brothers fall in love with thesame girl before shipping out to thebattlefield horrors of World War I. PatO’Connor (Dancing at Lughnasa)directs Skins’ Jack O’Connell and, inhis last role, Richard Griffiths. ‘‘Aheart-felt indictment of the essentialinhumanity of military law.’’ –Graeme Tuckett.
PACIFIC RIM (3-D)✪✪✪✪Sci-fi (M, violence).Humans use giant robots to fend offinvading aliens from the deep.Guillermo del Toro directs. ‘‘Ticksevery box a blockbuster should. Itentertains us, it makes us laugh andgasp, and it’s all wrapped up in justa shade over two hours.’’ – GraemeTuckett.
THE HEAT✪✪✪Action-comedy (R13, violence,offensive language, sexualreferences).An FBI agent and a Boston cop uniteto thwart a drug lord. Sandra Bullock
and Melissa McCarthy star. ‘‘Theydeserve a much stronger showcasethan this Laurel & Hardy Go Policin’vehicle.’’ – Time Out New York.
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (3-D)✪✪✪✪Animation (G).Mike and Sully meet at college whiletraining as scarers in a prequel that’salso a tribute to American collegecomedy. ‘‘Doesn’t quite live up toMonsters Inc but it does comedarned close.’’ – Graeme Tuckett.
DESPICABLE ME 2 (3-D)✪✪✪✪Animation (PG, low-level violence).Former criminal mastermind-turned-father of three Gru is recruited tothwart a powerful new super villain.‘‘Gru and his brood return foranother zany, if not quite aswinningly despicable, animatedescapade.’’ – The HollywoodReporter.
BEFORE MIDNIGHT✪✪✪✪Drama (M, nudity, offensivelanguage, sexual content).Nearly 20 years after their briefencounter in Venice, Before Sunrise’sJesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine(Julie Delpy) are unmarried withchildren in Paris. ‘‘They talkinterminably, but the talk isextraordinary and insightful.’’ –Graeme Tuckett.
WHITE LIES✪✪✪✪Historical drama (M, violence,nudity).Adaptation of Witi Ihimaera’s novellaMedicine Woman, about a Maorimidwife (Whirimako Black) and awealthy white woman with a secret(Antonia Prebble). ‘‘Black is afabulous presence on screen,powerful, still, and utterlycomposed.’’ – Graeme Tuckett.
THE LOOK OF LOVE✪✪✪✪Drama (R16, sexualised nudity, druguse, sex scenes).Director Michael Winterbottom’sfourth collaboration with SteveCoogan stars the comic actor as PaulRaymond, Britain’s answer to HughHefner. ‘‘Lays out the story in amatter of fact and unshowy way.’’ –Graeme Tuckett.
THE GREAT GATSBY (3-D)✪✪✪Drama (M, violence, sex scenes).Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulliganand Tobey Maguire star in BazLuhrmann’s adaptation of F ScottFitzgerald’s novel about amysterious, self-made Jazz Agemillionaire. ‘‘Stagey, showy, visuallyspectacular but, finally, shallow.’’ –Linda Burgess.
THE OTHER SON✪✪✪Drama (M, violence, infrequentcoarse language, drug use).An Israeli teenager discovers hisbiological parents are Palestinians.‘‘This beautifully photographeddrama is well-played throughout withgreat conscience without becomingheavy-handed.’’ – New York DailyNews.
REMEMBRANCE✪✪✪✪Drama (M, violence, sex scenes,nudity).A Polish prisoner and his Jewishgirlfriend escape from aconcentration camp in Germany,only to live the next 30 yearsthinking the other has died until anaccidental discovery. ‘‘Withoutdwelling on the horror, orsentimentalising the story,Remembrance is an effective andmoving film.’’ – Graeme Tuckett.
THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES✪✪✪✪Thriller (R16, violence, offensivelanguage, drug use).A motorcycle stuntman turns tobank robbery to support his new-found family. Ryan Gosling andBradley Cooper star. ‘‘Maybe not thebest film I have seen this year, but itis my personal favourite.’’ – GraemeTuckett.
DVDSPLANES, TRAINS ANDAUTOMOBILES (PG)Directed by John Hughes.Starring Steve Martin, John Candy.Movie: ✪✪✪✪✪Extras: ✪✪✪✪
One of thefunniest moviesof the past 25years at last getsbuffed up on Blu-ray. This odd-couple classicteams SteveMartin’s uptightad exec and John Candy’sinsufferably chipper, know-it-allshower curtain-ring salesman with awellspring of pointless anecdotes andnever-tell-twice jokes on the ultimateroad trip from hell as they try tomake it home for Thanksgiving.Hilarious and heartfelt, it combinesa respectable high-definition transferwith a droll deleted scene and anexcellent hour-long HD tribute towriter and director John Hughes.(Subtitled.)
A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (M)Directed by John Moore.Starring Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney,Sebastian Koch.Movie: ✪✪✪Extras: ✪✪✪✪
Ironically,‘‘mycop’’ isRussian forrubbish, andthat’s what manyfans of ex-copJohn McClanewill think of theiryippie-kai-yayhero’s efforts to extricate hisestranged, undercover son from theclutches of murderous Muscovites.Despite the ludicrous depths thisaction extravaganza plumbs, BruceWillis’ unstoppable troubleshooterstill holds irresistible appeal, some ofthe banter amuses, and the movielooks and sounds sensational on Blu-ray. The disc includes an extendedcut and two hours of top behind-the-scenes extras. (Subtitled.)
BULLET TO THE HEAD (R16)Directed by Walter Hill.Starring Sylvester Stallone,Sung Kang,Christian Slater.Movie: ✪✪✪Extras: None.
From the sameera as Die Hardand Planes,Trains andAutomobilescome a genre director and star intheir first, overdue collaboration, aB-grade, Big Easy film noir about aNew Orleans hitman and a Korean
cop who reluctantly join forces tothwart corruption. The plot is a join-the-dots gumbo of cliches andshortcuts, but the action sequencesare hot and the violence swift andbloody without being gratuitous.(Subtitled.)
QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER (M)Directed by Simon Wincer.Starring Tom Selleck, Alan Rickman,Laura San Giacomo.Movie: ✪✪✪Extras: ✪✪
In this reissue ofthe 1980 off-the-beaten trailwestern, TomSelleck plays asharpshooter whois left for dead inthe Australianoutback after heis double-crossed by genocidal landbaron Alan Rickman. The star anddirector have made better shoot-’em-ups together, but thecinematography and locations shinein HD and Rickman’s villainy iswickedly good. (Not subtitled.)
ROMAN POLANSKI: A FILMMEMOIR (M)Directed by Laurent Bouzereau.Documentary: ✪✪✪✪Extras: None.
This is anilluminating ifone-sided profileof thecontroversialOscar-winner,conducted whileunder housearrest forstatutory rapecharges dating back to 1977. Itrelates the 80-year-old film-maker’sstranger-than-fiction triumphs,tragedies and longevity within thecontext of his audacious cinematicachievements and is the perfectpost-Wellington Film Festival wind-down. (Not subtitled.)
CITADEL (R16)Directed by Ciaran Foy.Starring Aneurin Barnard,James Cosmo.Movie: ✪✪Extras: ✪✪✪
A traumatisedsolo dad holed upin a crumblingblock of flatsrecruits a roguepriest to helpflush out thesupernatural forces that killed hiswife in this creepy, claustrophobic,low-budget exercise in escalatingsilliness. (Not subtitled.)
PHILIP WAKEFIELD
New blood: Neil Jordan’s Byzantium is yet another story about vampires, butone with bite and a few surprises.
BYZANTIUM✪✪✪✪
Supernatural thriller (R16, horror,violence, sex scenes, offensivelanguage).A vampire settles in a seasidetown where her daughterbefriends a sick youngster. Neil
Jordan directs Caleb LandryJones, Gemma Arterton andSaoirse Ronan. ‘‘It’s hard to teachan old bloodsucker new tricks.Still, Byzantium has a few movesthat might surprise you. They havenothing to do with blood, buteverything to do with the heart.’’– The Washington Post.
Striking arich vein ofmusic
High note: Skeptics’ singer David D’Ath, who died in 1990 from leukaemia, was a compelling figure on stage and off and the driver for making the documentary Sheenof Gold.
In Palmerston North andthen Wellington in the 80sand early 90s, Kiwi band Skepticswere one of a kind. Adocumentary in the New ZealandInternational Film Festival shedslight on the band’s history andlegacy, writes Gavin Bertram.
THE DETAILSSheen of Gold screens at theParamount, tonight, 6.30pm and atthe New Zealand Film Archive onSaturday, 8.15pm as part of the NZInternational Film Festival.
‘I think I chose the rightband to make adocumentary about. Thebody of music the bandcreated lends itself wellto a movie soundtrack.It’s so varied, it’s sorich.’director Simon Ogston
IN 2006, Flying NunRecords founder RogerShepherd sat agonising ata table in Warner Music’sAuckland office.He was scouring the fabled
New Zealand independent label’svast back catalogue, trying todecide on 80 songs for the FlyingNun 25th Anniversary Box Set.
Encapsulating the label’soutput was clearly a painfulexperience. But when pressed onhis favourite Flying Nun relatedact, Shepherd was unequivocal.
‘‘I’ve always been a big Skepticsfan,’’ he said. ‘‘Love that band.’’
Sheen of Gold was the Skeptics’track that featured on thecompilation. It’s now the title of amoving documentary about theband by director Simon Ogston.
It traces Skeptics’ journey fromhigh school punks in PalmerstonNorth in the late 1970s, to theirmove to Wellington and the deathof singer David D’Ath in 1990.
Ogston was familiar with someof their music, but his interest inthe band only developed threeyears ago.
‘‘A friend put me onto some oftheir albums and I was intrigued,’’he says. ‘‘I decided to do someresearch online and found therewas very little information aboutSkeptics. I think I chose the rightband to make a documentaryabout. The body of music the bandcreated lends itself well to a moviesoundtrack. It’s so varied, it’s sorich.’’
Robin Gauld first envisionedSkeptics between his fifth andsixth form years. Now professor ofhealth policy at the University ofOtago, he remembers becomingobsessed with playing guitar andpunk music in Palmerston Norththat summer.
Records by Iggy Pop, TheStranglers, Sex Pistols, BoomtownRats, and Wire were the initialinspiration. And so when schoolbegan again, Gauld says heliterally bullied his friends atFreyberg High School intostarting a band with him.
D’Ath was his oldest friend andfirst recruit, and the two formedan interest group at school tosupport the project. They soon
dragged Don White aboard asdrummer.
‘‘He had never played drums inhis life and David had never sungin his life,’’ Gauld says. ‘‘We hadanother guy Ian Reiddy whoplayed the bass. And we justplayed. We were just young andhad this kind of vision, I think.’’
Under the name X-It, the bandperformed during their first yearat a school talent quest. Early in1980 they changed their name toSkeptics and debuted in the schoollibrary.
Gauld admits that althoughthey had written a handful ofsongs, their lack of musicalknowledge didn’t help – guitars
and bass weren’t tuned to thesame key. Bassist Nick Roughanreplaced Reiddy not long after.
‘‘I probably knew the mostmusically – three chords maybe,’’he says. ‘‘We got together andlearnt our instruments and how toplay together at the same time. Ican imagine those early timeswould have been fairly punishingfor anybody listening.’’
Skeptics’ first recording LastOrders featured on the 1982 3 PiecePack compilation from Aucklandlabel Furtive.
This and the ensuing nationaltour were a huge breakthrough,and the experience instilledSkeptics with greater ambition. In1983 they opened Snailclamps inPalmerston North – a practisespace that doubled as a venue forlocal and touring acts. The same
year Skeptics released theChowder Over Wisconsin EP onFlying Nun.
‘‘The song writing had evolvedinto a collaborative effort,’’ Gauldsays. ‘‘There was a range of thingsgoing on and we were starting tocreate our own unique sound.’’
After the Ponds album in 1985Skeptics moved to Wellingtonwithout Gauld, who pursued hisacademic career. In the capital,Roughan, White and D’Athembraced technology as a way ofreplacing their guitarist. Samplingand drum machines became anintegral part of Skeptics’ sound,even after ex-Gordons’ memberJohn Halvorsen joined on guitar.At their own Writhe Studio theycreated their greatest work, with1987’s Skeptics III and 1990’sAmalgam albums.
Dense and involving, thosealbum’s industrial tones andpoignant mood shifts are peerlessnot just in New Zealand, butinternationally.
They are particularly resonantdue to D’Ath’s death fromleukaemia in September, 1990.
A compelling figure, doing thestory justice for the singer was akey driver for Ogston with Sheenof Gold.
‘‘Creating something that livesup to his legacy has been a majormotivation for me,’’ he says. ‘‘Ihave great respect for the workthat he created. By all accounts, hewas a very warm and creative andgenerous person, and everyoneremembers him fondly.’’
Ogston’s documentarycoincides with both Skeptics IIIand Amalgam being re-released byFlying Nun, in collaboration withUnited States label CapturedTracks.
‘‘One thing behind the film wasto try and get to a new generationof listeners,’’ Roughan says. ‘‘I feelthat our music has aged fairly welland it would be nice to get throughto another generation.’’
