Comedy
Coyote Vs ACME (PG)
Review: Humans and Looney Tunes cartoon characters live side by side in (almost) perfect harmony in Dave Green’s knockabout comedy, which melts down the live action and animation alloy of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to fashion a David and Goliath legal tussle between Road Runner’s luckless nemesis and the biggest corporation in the world. Purportedly based on a true story, Coyote Vs ACME overcomes a troubled production history to deliver chuckles and intrigue plus a surprisingly large dollop of heart-on-sleeve emotion.
Thirty years after whistleblower Dr Lorre vanishes before he can reveal damning secrets about the ACME corporation, Wile E Coyote is condemned to an infinity loop of harm and humiliation as he employs various malfunctioning ACME devices including rocket skates and magnetic bird seed in his relentless pursuit of the Road Runner. After one particularly bruising defeat, Wile sees a TV advert for Albuquerque-based personal injury law firm Avery, Jones & Maltese, who help cartoon clients sue ACME for damages arising from faulty products. The coyote hires one partner Kevin Avery (Will Forte) to represent his claim but the calamitous canine is disappointed when his world-weary lawyer prepares to settle the case for a measly 500 dollars to avoid a courtroom showdown with ACME’s flashy legal counsel, Buddy Crane (John Cena).
Kevin’s idealistic niece Paige (Lana Condor), who is an intern at the firm, encourages her uncle to be brave but the other partners, Dottie Jones (Martha Kelly) and Sal Maltese (Tone Bell), urge caution before a high-profile loss sinks the business. As battle commences before the jury and Judge Troppogrosso (Luis Guzman), Buddy claims he will show that Wile “is reckless and all of his injuries are self-inflicted” while Kevin and Page uncover evidence of a covert project, codename Sisyphus.
Coyote Vs ACME is an entertaining and fast-paced jaunt that pads out the central mystery with wacky side quests, which often rely on human cast “interacting” believably with cartoon environments and props. Visual gags like Wile resting his paws on a desk in the Avery, Jones & Maltese office as he reads a book entitled How To Wait Around Dramatically, all land softly.
Beloved hand-drawn creations including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd (all voiced by Eric Bauza) gleefully further the zany plot, including a quick visit to St Looney’s For The Exceptionally Looney, plus Tasmanian Devil (Jim Cummings) makes a chaotic impression on the witness stand. Forte and Wile are a surprisingly lovable double act in mild jeopardy and Condor brings sugar and spice to her spirited sidekick. Cena blusters and bullies, without reducing his legal eagle to a pantomime villain, and his delightfully deadpan tete-a-tete with Tweety is an undeniable highlight. I tawt I taw a rollicking lark.
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Drama
De Gaulle: Resistance (15)
Review: Simon Abkarian embodies one of the defining and divisive figures of French wartime resistance in an exhaustive biographical drama in two parts directed by Antonin Baudry. Based on British historian Julian T Jackson’s award-winning biography De Gaulle: A Certain Idea Of France, the first chapter opens in June 1940 with the signing of an armistice following Germany’s victory at the Battle of France. A meaty second course, De Gaulle: Liberte, follows on September 18.
General Charles de Gaulle (Abkarian) makes abundantly clear his disapproval and displeasure when a regime fronted by Marechal Petain (Alain Libolt) collaborates with the Nazis. Admiral Francois Darlan (Mathieu Kassovitz), who effectively controls the French navy, remains loyal to Petain but refuses to surrender the fleet to the Germans. De Gaulle escapes to London and seeks an audience with Winston Churchill (Simon Russell Beale) to convince the battle-scarred Prime Minister that the people of France will rise up against the Germans to protect the country’s heart and soul.
The rest of the world, and notably US President Franklin D Roosevelt (Campbell Scott), is unconvinced by de Gaulle’s unwavering belief in the fighting spirit of his countrymen and -women. Glimmers of hope appear and resistance fighters and students rally, including impetuous young patriot Fernand Bonnier de la Chapelle (Florian Lesieur). Fernand watches with pride as De Gaulle looks to northern Africa to establish the Free France movement and extend patriotic pride around the world to support the British and other Allies as they weather German aerial bombardments and plan the invasion of territory occupied by the enemy.
De Gaulle: Resistance is a confidently staged and frequently exhilarating history lesson, distilling around two years of political manoeuvring into a little over two-and-a-half hours of screen time. There are no noticeable longueurs and a script co-written by director Baudry and Berenice Vila mines humour from the tragicomic double act of de Gaulle and Churchill at a turning point in history. The marked height difference between Abkarian and Russell Beale feeds into the naturally funny interplay and the two actors are well-matched in more serious moments as statesmen cut from markedly different cloth, conducting many of their exchanges in French.
Thrilling milestones in de Gaulle’s rise are recreated with verve. The Battle of Bir Hakeim in 1942 North Africa led by General Koenig (Benoit Magimel) is a pulse-quickening highlight. Around 3000 Free French soldiers, outnumbered roughly 10 to one, hold their position in the Libyan desert against the advancing Germans for over two weeks to protect Allied troops in Tobruk. “Betting on de Gaulle seems something like a leap of faith, don’t you think?” a British cynic observes at one point. Baudry’s picture is a very safe bet.
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Sci-Fi
The Dog Stars (15)
Review: If the world as we know it ends, and society and law and order fracture beyond repair, humanity’s greatest challenge will be protecting the last vestiges of tenderness and compassion. That battle is largely lost in The Dog Stars, a dystopian sci-fi thriller adapted by screenwriter Mark L Smith from Peter Heller’s novel and directed by Sir Ridley Scott, set in 2035 Colorado in the aftermath of a deadly global pandemic. Guilt and regret are constant companions to those who remain, or as one survivor remarks, “You gotta have something to haunt you… otherwise you might get lonely.”
Survivors of the virus that almost wiped humanity off the face of Earth protect precious resources and each other from violent marauding scavengers called Reapers. Mechanic and pilot Hig (Jacob Elordi) lost his wife Melissa (Sai Bennett) and first child to the contagion. Now, he lives at an abandoned airport in the wilderness on the outskirts of Denver with a German shepherd named Jasper and cantankerous military survivalist Bangley (Josh Brolin).
Bangley has everything he needs: power, food, water, weapons and a perimeter he can defend. “This world fits you,” Hig tells the gun-toting grouch. Every day, Hig takes to the sky in his 1956 Cessna to scout for signs of life, identify approaching threats and track the source of a faint radio signal, which would confirm other survivors and, thus, hope beyond the horizon. Tragedy strikes and Hig’s usual airborne routine leads him to fiercely protective father Pops (Guy Pearce) and his medically minded daughter, Cima (Margaret Qualley). Pops doesn’t want an outsider near his self-sufficient homestead or only child but, a strapping widower like Hig is the least of his worries.
The Dog Stars is a muscular study of grim-faced resilience, which errs on the side of restraint for long stretches, punctuating Hig’s teary-eyed reminiscence with stark reminders of the danger that lurks just out of eyeshot. Action set pieces are delivered with the multi-camera bombast, impressive practical effects and spectacular stunts you expect from the ringmaster of Gladiator and The Martian, including a terrific chase between Hig in his temporarily grounded plane and a horde of axe-wielding Reapers on horseback.
Elordi effortlessly holds attention and there is a pleasingly fractious surrogate father-son dynamic with Brolin’s sharp-shooter, who demonstrates his physical prowess in a nerve-jangling set piece shot in part through night-vision goggles. Smith’s script only embraces barking madness in a discomfiting and psychedelic final act that follows Hig to the mysterious Grand Junction outpost in search of fellow survivors. Oscar-winner Allison Janney chews scenery with relish as a former flight attendant, Scott serves complimentary nuts and credulity finally goes up in flames.
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Comedy
One Night Only (15)
Review: Most romantic comedies pose a simple question: will or won’t they get together? We already know the answer. Go one step further and ask, should or shouldn’t they get together? Consider that question in the context of One Night Only directed by Will Gluck and, regrettably, there is only one logical response: no. This slickly conceived but fatally flawed romp asks us to root for a couple who repeatedly reject each other and spend almost the entire film trying to have sex with other people. Only when they are unsuccessful, not for lack of trying, does Travis Braun’s script suggest we root for their preordained happy ever after.
The film is set in a near-future America, which has criminalised pre-marital sex except for one night of the year when singletons across the country go crazy bedding anything with a pulse. Condoms are mandated to prevent a spike in unwanted pregnancies and STIs. Pizza shop owner Owen (Callum Turner) allows his uncoupled employees, including himself, to finish early ahead of this year’s 12-hour exemption beginning at 7pm. He intends to use the occasion to propose to girlfriend Malika (Maya Hawke) in a sushi restaurant but she kills the mood by disclosing that she wants to sleep with someone else in the apartment they share.
Crestfallen, Owen stumbles into heavily hormone-scented New York and bumps into advertising jingle singer Allie (Monica Barbaro), who has just been brushed off by her friend Jacinta (King Princess) after a bona fide prince Tejan (Okieriete Onaodowan) caught Jacinta’s lustful eye. Owen and Allie trade pleasantries and go their separate ways but repeatedly cross paths as he races around the city looking for a condom to bed bartender Skye (Julia Fox) while she swoons over musician Ezra Stone (Charlie Gillespie). Meanwhile, Allie’s roommate Arya (Quintessa Swindell) exploits a price surge for baby-sitters and accepts 5,000 dollars to look after a neighbour’s potty-mouthed 12-year-old son (Mateo Ray) until the exemption ends at 7am.
One Night Only is torpedoed by its own cute premise than craves horny over corny. Screenwriter Braun doesn’t expend any time or energy explaining why American voters would willingly accept a ban on pre-marital sex or submit to tattoos on their wrists that change colour to indicate when consummation is permitted. Barbaro and Turner are separated for swathes of the running time and both lose their clothes to outlandish plot contrivances. There is palpable screen chemistry between them but a climactic rom-com trope feels like an act of post-rejection desperation rather than a hard-fought battle for something meaningful that could last.
Supporting characters including Owen’s mother Linda (Molly Ringwald) and her partner Rick (LeVar Burton) provide the sweetness and sauce that is fundamentally lacking in the central relationship.
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