Retro rom-com appeals to space cadets and nostalgists
While Fly Me To the Moon does not always take the most direct or smooth route, an excellent lead pairing of Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum never falters, writes Leigh Paatsch.
Leigh Paatsch
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From a quality, retro rom-com to the conclusion of a hit slasher trilogy and a slow-burn Western from an Oscar-winning great, there’s something for everyone in cinemas this week.
FLY ME TO THE MOON (M)
Director: Greg Berlanti (Love Simon)
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson
Rating:★★★
Houston, we have a problem we can’t tell you about
Did the Americans fake the moon landing? The history books say no.
Did the Americans attempt to fake the moon landing? Fly Me To the Moon says yes.
By simply highlighting these two scenarios, this lively crowd-pleasing comedy instantly doubles its appeal.
Space nostalgists who look back fondly on the glory days of NASA will happily accept any offer to witness Neil Armstrong and the gang take “one giant leap for mankind” all over again.
Space cadets who reckon the whole thing was a sham from lift-off to splashdown will definitely be listening out for what Fly Me To the Moon has to say about their fave conspiracy theory.
While this concept is a clever launch pad for a movie, Fly Me To the Moon does not always take the most direct or smooth route to its chosen destination.
Luckily, an excellent lead pairing of Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum never once falters.
In fact, they are so darn good together – particularly when comes to ripping through the repartee of a rom-com – that you’ll leave here sincerely hoping this isn’t the last time they’re cast in tandem.
Johansson plays Kelly Jones, an advertising genius who can sell anything. Her talent as America’s queen of spin attracts the attention of the US Government’s king of shadow-ops, Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson).
A major marketing campaign Moe has in mind runs a little something like this. The Apollo 11 mission – which will culminate in a historic and spectacular first lunar landing – may not look all that historic and spectacular to a global TV audience of billions.
Therefore Kelly’s job is to supervise a broadcast of the lunar landing that will run in sync with Apollo 11. The real thing will still happen, but the faked TV version will sell America as the world’s one true superpower.
The largest of many wrinkles that need to be ironed out is how to keep the bogus broadcast a secret from the supremos at NASA Mission Control.
Without giving too much away, that’s going to be even a tougher bluff to make once a will-they-or-won’t-they? romantic spark catches fire between Kelly and Apollo 11’s no-nonsense launch director Cole Davis (Tatum).
Story-wise, Fly Me to the Moon has so many plates spinning at the same time that viewers can become easily distracted, and perhaps even confused by what is going on.
Thankfully, the Kelly-Cole relationship quandary adds counterweights of clarity and charm to proceedings, ultimately saving Fly Me to the Moon from straying too far offcourse.
Fly Me To the Moon is in cinemas now
MAXXXINE (MA15+)
Rating:★★★
General release
Horror fans who were quite rightly enthused by the Mia Goth-starring shock-fests X and Pearl have been waiting for some time for a long-planned trilogy to reach completion. Perhaps the wait went on a little too long. If anything, Maxxxine feels like a little bit of a step down after the high standards set by its predecessors (and not just because there have been so many other great horror flicks recently). Nevertheless, Goth remains in irresistible form reprising the role of Maxine, the original porn-starlet ingenue from X.
The year is now 1985, and Maxine is looking to make a move to ‘legitimate’ acting. However, many of her female friends walking the same seedy streets of the LA underworld are beginning to die gruesome deaths, possibly at the hands of a sinister new serial killer. As Maxine becomes an obvious person of interest to a pair of jaded LAPD investigators (Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale) and a sleazy private detective (a superb Kevin Bacon), the body count steadily rises with chilling inevitability. An amusingly authentic 1980s production design and a few genuinely unforeseen twists will be truly appreciated by those who have stuck by this blood-spattered series from the outset.
HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA – CHAPTER ONE (M)
Rating:★★★½
Selected cinemas
This isn’t Kevin Costner’s first rodeo in America’s fabled wild west as both director and star (remember his Oscar-winning epic Dances with Wolves?). And, if all goes according to plan, it will certainly not be his last. Horizon actually arrives in cinemas as the opening instalment of a saga that will span four parts across the next 18 months (Chapter Two arrives soon). Running north of three hours, Chapter One marks a very slow but sincerely honourable start to a project destined to keep improving as it goes along.
The action takes place around the time of the Civil War, an era where white settlers were still making incursions into Native American territories that would have devastating consequences for all concerned. Costner plays an ageing horseman who is but one of a sprawling cast of characters introduced here. However, his elegantly measured direction – particularly when building to battle sequences – is what truly stands out above all else. Co-stars Sam Worthington, Sienna Miller, Jena Malone, Danny Huston.
Why Keaton is only saving (dis)grace for average sequel
Despite Michael Keaton having the time of his afterlife, there’s not enough of his coffin-tipping high-jinks to carry Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to greatness, writes Leigh Paatsch.
Why The Crow reboot is an insult to original
With neither the damaging energy nor the distinctive look of its predecessor, The Crow reboot has little chance of any afterlife sequel-wise, writes Leigh Paatsch.