Tag Archives: Uli Latukefu

Next Goal Wins – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fun time that gets held back by some wooden acting and forced storytelling.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The Team v the Coach.

Next Goal Wins Review –

I have been enjoying my time at the Brisbane International Film Festival, but as always, things must come to an end. But if you are going to pick a film to end it on, Taika Waititi’s romp about the American Samoa Football Team is an excellent place to do it. This is a sports story that is so infamous that even I have heard about it. With that in mind, let’s play some soccer and see how a team can come back from abject embarrassment.

So to set the scene, American Samoa has been at the bottom of FIFA’s rankings for an age and reached an even lower level in 2001 World Cup qualifiers when, during a game with Australia, they lost 31-0. Tavita (Oscar Kightley) tries to manage the club, but he has become a laughingstock in the soccer community. After some pushing from his wife, Ruth (Rachel House), he applies to the American Soccer Federation for a new coach. Well, this might be a Hail Mary, but at that moment, they have a coach who is about to get fired, and Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) has only one option: take a plane into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

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Black Adam – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film where nearly anything of interest was sandblasted off to give us a bland expedition with some moments of interest.     

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Black Adam floats in the ocean.

Black Adam Review –

I came into this film with a lot of trepidation. To say that Warner Bros has had a challenging year with its merger would be an understatement, losing nearly any goodwill they had with them. Add to this that the DCEU has struggled with very straightforward hero narratives. How would they go with an anti-hero? But if nothing else, the charisma of Dwayne Johnson is strong, and if anything can help a film, it is that.

So to set the scene, 5,000 years ago, in 2,600 BCW, in the land of Kahndaq, Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson) was chosen by the wizards to stand up to the local despot. SHAZAM, and the palace explodes. In the present, Kahndaq is still under the control of occupiers, and Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) is trying to hide treasures from the Intergang mercenaries when she finds Black Adam’s tomb. He is finally let free, but all that time has not blunted his desire for revenge and rampage. Seeing a potential threat, Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and the Justice Society Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) try to show him a different path or at least get him to surrender peacefully. But then, the Black Adam is not peaceful.   

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Movie Review – The Legend of Baron To’a

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TL;DR – A bonkers fun film from first till last    

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Awards:

Nominated – Explosive Action

The Legend of Baron To'a. Image Credit: Madman.

Review –

Do you know what I needed this week? I needed a bit of fun, you know what I think a lot of people need this week, a little fun, well, have I got news for you. It has been great over the last couple of years to see Pasifika Cinema go from strength to strength and today we get to look at another entry into the great canon.

So to set the scene, we open in on the great Baron To’a (John Tui) himself as he does a tour of his home and local cul–de–sac Kinlock Ave. He is the heart of the local community and he is most proud of his son Fritz (Lotima Pome’e). However, it cannot last and twenty years later when Fritz (Uli Latukefu) returns to help sell his house after his uncle Otto (Nathaniel Lees) stops returning his calls he finds that the sac is a very different place than what he remembered.   

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