Weekly Review Round Up 26th Dec, 2013

THIS WEEK'S PREVIEWS

Merry Christmas everybody.  Today is the big day at the box office in Australia with the studios releasing their holiday season big openers.  Every one of the pictures I reviewed this week gets a huge thumbs up. If you have children you will all love Disney’s Frozen.  Everybody will love The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It's one of my favourites this year. Philomena is another stunning film and truly heartbreaking. Of course, hairy feet fans don’t need to be told The Hobbit 2 is out.  This one is even better than the first and a real adventure. So grab your family or other half or just yourself and visit a nearby cinema. You can’t really go wrong. 

(My movie Pick of the week)

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY ★★★★½

Opens in Australia: 26^th December, 2013

Other Countries: Release Information

Perth, Australia:       See at Luna Cinemas

OUR THOUGHTS

When I check the reviews for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, I feel as if I saw an entirely different film to the U.S film critics. There appears to be a backlash against the sentimentality of this film, and many unfavorable comments compare it to the 1947 Technicolor version. Well, I would imagine most of the current film-going public didn’t catch that one. This “Walter Mitty” made my favorites list for 2013, and I loved it enough to see it twice.

It is a sweet, thoughtful and inspirational story of Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller), a man who has never done anything “noteworthy or mentionable.” Mitty works in the backroom of “Life” magazine managing the photos. Walter is prone to “zoning out”. When he does, he disappears into fantasy worlds where he imagines himself the hero. He also has a crush on colleague Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig), but he can’t muster the courage to talk to her, attempting to make contact via a dating website.

When adventure photographer and all round craggy, heroic type Sean O’Connoll (Sean Penn) courier delivers a special photo—“negative 25”—for the cover, it is decided by snarky “change management” executive, Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott) that it will appear on Life Magazine’s last ever print cover.  But when the negative goes missing, Walter must escape his emotional boundaries and embark on an adventure across the world to find it.

Ben Stiller directs and stars in “Walter Mitty” and he does a wonderful job with the aesthetics. It’s big and beautiful with a stirring soundtrack and enough laughs and romance to be called a rom-com but at its heart it’s an underdog film that finds the right balance of whimsical and sentiment.

STUDIO BLURB

Ben Stiller directs and stars in THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, James Thurber's classic story of a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. When his job along with that of his co-worker (Kristen Wiig) are threatened, Walter takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined. (c) Fox

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ★★★★ ½ stars

Opens in Australia: 26^th December, 2013

Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

        All non-Hobbit fans you can skip this review; I know I will never convince you that this is a fun film series. And I know you don’t care how great this Lord of the Rings non-fan enjoyed this film or the first 2012 Hobbit film. This time around I was just like all the other fans eagerly awaiting numero due of the trilogy. I had my hairy feet and pointy ear geekdom fully switched on.

        And this is no disappointment.  In fact, it is even better than the first. We don’t have to sit through any dwarf sing-a-longs and longish treks across green hills and dales and craggy cliffs.  We know all the characters, although I will never be able to remember the names even under the threat of burning at the stake by dragon.  It doesn't matter though, you know the faces, you know they are going to end up in perilous danger over and over, you know that eventually they will arrive to face Smaug.

   Its rip-roaring, fire-breathing, barrel-rolling adventure from almost the opening scene until the cliff-hanger ending that left our audience gasping “No” as the screen went blank. Can you see this one without seeing the first? Yes, you can, but why would you?  Go Hobbit. Embrace your geekdom.

STUDIO BLURB

       The second in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug continues the adventure of the title character Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he journeys with the Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan) and thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) on an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor.(c) WB

Disney’s Frozen ★★★★  stars
(Disney Short: "Get a Horse" ★★★★★)

Opens in Australia: 26th^th December, 2013

USA: 27th^th November 2013

UK: 6^th December 2013 

Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

The Disney people want you to know, though the posters look very young’uns like, that this is a film for everyone. I wholeheartedly agree. This is a Disney musical in the true Disney style. It’s beautifully animated, has catchy, quality music, a magical story-line, and memorable characters. If you don’t laugh at Olaf (Josh Gad) the funny snowman, then you may have a frozen heart.

Anna (Kristen Bell) is the younger sister, full of life and naïve optimism, compared to her serious sister, Elsa (Edina Menzel), who is destined to become the Queen. But Elsa is charmed and not in a good way; everything she touches freezes (sort of like Carrie in reverse). So her parents hide her and her powers away, even from her sister.

When things go terribly wrong on Elsa’s coronation, Anna teams up with an unlikely ally, mountain-man Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and his reindeer Sven, to save Elsa and the kingdom. Along the way, they battle some serious adversaries including the weather.

Attached to this film is the usual Disney short. This one entitled Get a Horse will leave you gob-smacked; I could write a whole review on the brilliance of this alone. It’s worth the price of entry, but you will need to see it in 3D to appreciate the incredible visuals. It is a shoe-in to win best animated short at the 2014 Oscars.

STUDIO BLURB

Featuring the voices of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, "Frozen" is the coolest comedy-adventure ever to hit the big screen. When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on an epic journey to find Anna's sister Elsa, the Snow Queen, and put an end to her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction. (c) Disney

Philomena ★★★★ 

Opens in Australia:      26^th December, 2013

Other Countries:          Release Information

Perth, Australia:           See at Luna Cinemas

OUR THOUGHTS

      This film is well JudiDench. Yes, there is such a thing and it means it is awesome.  You can get the slogan "Denched" on a t-shirt, in fact.  Judy Dench stars in this true story of a poor Irish woman who has her son stolen from her by the catholic nuns and then sold to an American family.

      It makes you hopping mad watching the inhuman way, she and the other young single mothers are treated by the nuns. It's another reveal of the terrible goings on behind the closed doors of the church; just as was revealed in Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012).

      Steve Coogan who plays Martin Sixsmith, the BBC correspondent who helps her locate her son. is brilliant.  He is simply beyond talented in writing, producing, and acting in this.  He seems to be in everything lately. It is the year of the Coogan it seems.

This will be another awards favourite. It is so very Dench.

   

STUDIO BLURB

      Based on the 2009 investigative book by BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, PHILOMENA focuses on the efforts of Philomena Lee (Dench), mother to a boy conceived out of wedlock - something her Irish-Catholic community didn't have the highest opinion of - and given away for adoption in the United States. In following church doctrine, she was forced to sign a contract that wouldn't allow for any sort of inquiry into the son's whereabouts. After starting a family years later in England and, for the most part, moving on with her life, Lee meets Sixsmith (Coogan), a BBC reporter with whom she decides to discover her long-lost son. (c) Weinstein 
       Based on the 2009 investigative book by BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, PHILOMENA focuses on the efforts of Philomena Lee (Dench), mother to a boy conceived out of wedlock - something her Irish-Catholic community didn't have the highest opinion of - and given away for adoption in the United States. In following church doctrine, she was forced to sign a contract that wouldn't allow for any sort of inquiry into the son's whereabouts. After starting a family years later in England and, for the most part, moving on with her life, Lee meets Sixsmith (Coogan), a BBC reporter with whom she decides to discover her long-lost son. (c) Weinstein

What have you seen this week? Did you find our comments helpful or do you disagree? Share your thoughts with us.

Film Review RoundUp 14th December 2013

THIS WEEK'S PREVIEWS

Just two for you this week and both are noir films.  American Hustle which was a heap of fun, and a catch up of a film already released Kill Your Darlings.  Summer has finally arrived in Perth, so I recommend catching up on some great films in the lovely air-conditioning.  Next week is my last week of previews for the year.  All the movie people take a break until mid-January.  We film reviewers have been working our butts off (and sitting on our butts) the past month catching all the current releases and films coming out over the holidays.  There are some great films just around the corner. Watch this space.

(My movie Pick of the week)
AMERICAN HUSTLE ★★★★ ½  

Opens in Australia:     12^th December, 2013
Other Countries:          Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

The first few minutes of the film opens with Christian Bale painstakingly pasting on a hair piece and working on a comb-over that, surprisingly, almost works.  That opening scene sums up the film.  It is a painstakingly created genre film and that includes maintaining the feel and the tempo of films of the seventies era. So there will be some who will find its pacing tedious.

However, it is a brilliant story, and every actor’s contribution is Oscar worthy. I am not a Jennifer Lawrence fan (I was told that was the equivalent in the industry of swearing) but, she is incredible here. For her portrayal of the unhinged wife of Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), I’d give her an award.

This film is a delicious treat that will drag you in and hustle you along for the ride. Let’s do the hustle!  

By the way, we previewed this film at Events Cinema Gold Class, which is the only way to go I've decided. Can I start a petition that all previews should now be held in Gold Class please?

STUDIO BLURB

A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Like David O. Russell's previous films, American Hustle defies genre, hinging on raw emotion, and life and death stakes. (c) Sony

Kill Your Darlings ★★★ stars

Opens in Australia:     5^th December, 2013
Other Countries:          Release Information
Perth, Australia:           See at Luna Cinemas EXCLUSIVE

OUR THOUGHTS

       This film was a little lost on me.  I think there is a good story in here, but I don’t think director, John Krokidas, told it.  However, it has some good reviews attached to it, so it may be the stylising that didn’t appeal to me. You may enjoy. 

       The characters are rather unlikable, and I had to do my research on the “Beat Generation” which was really a group of anti-establishment writers causing a bit of a trouble to academia.  The performances can’t be faulted and hats off to Daniel Radcliffe. He is really shaking off the Harry Potter persona here while facing down some demons of an entirely different breed.

But, in the end, this film feels self-indulgent.  It’s the film equivalent of literary books, which tend to leave me yawning. I am one who likes characters used to tell a story, and not a story used to tell us about characters. 

       However, it was certainly a fun little theatre visit, as it was screening in the charming theatrette, Cinema 4, at Perth Luna Cinemas. It was a new experience for me. If you are a Perth filmgoer you must check Luna out. They really do it well down there in Leederville with the outdoor cinema at the back and their beautiful art deco cinemas. They’ve also just launched their new outdoor cinema at bamBOO cinemas in Highgate. So get on down now that weather has turned HOT. It opens on the 18^th December and runs through summer.

STUDIO BLURB

       Daniel Radcliffe stars as Beat Generation icon Allen Ginsberg in this biopic set during the famed poet's early years at Columbia University, and centering on a murder investigation involving Ginsberg, his handsome classmate Lucien Carr, and fellow Beat author William Burroughs. The year is 1944. Ginsberg (Radcliffe) is a young student at Columbia University when he falls hopelessly under the spell of charismatic classmate Carr (Dane DeHaan). Alongside Carr, Ginsberg manages to strike up friendships with aspiring writers William Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) that would cast conformity to the wind, and serve as the foundation of the Beat movement. Meanwhile, an older outsider named David Krammerer falls deeply and madly in love with the impossibly cool Carr. Later, when Krammerer dies under mysterious circumstances, police arrest Kerouac, Burroughs, and Carr as potential suspects, paving the way for an investigation that would have a major impact on the lives of the three emerging artists. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyra Sedgwick, David Cross, and Michael C. Hall co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

What have you seen this week? Did you find our comments helpful or do you disagree? Share your thoughts with us.

bamBOO Outdoor Cinema comes to PERTH

Perth people we are so lucky.  

             Look at what we now have here. 

                      The rest of the world be jealous, be very jealous.

bamBOO Outdoor Cinema is the latest outdoor cinema presented in partnership with Luxe Bar. Situated in the heart of Highgate, on Beaufort Street, bamBOO is located just behind Luxe Bar (which is next to Ace Pizza).

With its tropical bamBOO and amphitheatre style seating, bamBOO Outdoor Cinema is a great place to chill out on those hot summer nights. They will show a mix of contemporary favourites, cult classics and premieres.

bamBOO will Open on December 18th and screening Wednesday nights to Sunday nights throughout the warmer months. Doors open at 6.00pm and films start about 8.00pm. bamBOO Outdoor Cinema is located at 446 Beaufort St, Highgate.

Check out upcoming films, along with my reviews (just do a search on this site-most are reviewed).  Some are my all time favourites for this year. So, don’t miss out.  Blue Jasmine which opens bamBOO is in my top ten picks of the year, as is Gravity.

Click here for the brochure for bamBOO

Click through to Luna Cinemas for more details

Weekly Review Round Up 7th December 2013

THIS WEEK'S PREVIEWS

There are two school holiday films opening this week, and they are both approved worthy of your holiday entertainment budget, especially Ender’s Game.  There is also the very Slow Train to Lisbon that really should be missed. An awful journey! And the very sweet Delivery Man.

(My movie Pick of the week)

ENDER’S GAME ★★★★

Opens in Australia:               5^th December, 2013

Other Countries:                    Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

This hasn’t fared well at the box office, and it’s probably lost a star at the review sites, not because of the movie, but because the author of the books which were released in the eighties has been misbehaving in the media. Homophobic author Orson Scott is a vocal opponent of gay marriage, writing that its codification would mean"the last shreds of meaning will be stripped away from marriage." The statements were condemned by the movie's distributor and star Harrison Ford. So, there was a call for a boycott of the film in the U.S., which actually worked.

However, it’s a shame because it’s a terrific film for young teenagers.  It’s intelligent, well created when it comes to the technology involved and the low-gravity sequences, and it has good messages within the story. In fact, the strongest message, ironically, is not to fear those who are different but embrace them for their uniqueness. Go figure that one.  The author should heed his own books.

My sons are eleven and thirteen, and thanks to my fairy-dust sprinkled career as a film critic I can take them to anything for free. Yet, there is so little that is good for that age group to which I do take them. The films are too violent, too loaded with sex, or too young. They are at a difficult film age. 

But Ender’s Game is perfect for them, and it is an enjoyable view for parents and also any science fiction film fans.  These school holidays do take your kids along to this—boycotting it does not make anyone in agreement with the rants of an ignorant person.  You won’t be disappointed. What I am disappointed about is that the author scuttled the film, which due to poor box office won’t now become a series, and that is cinema-goers loss.

STUDIO BLURB

          From director Gavin Hood (X:Men Origins: Wolverine) comes a visually stunning action-adventure event film based on the best-selling  book franchise. Asa Butterfield leads an all star cast as Ender, a young boy who has the responsibility to save Earth and mankind using his superior gaming skills.

           In the near future, a hostile alien race has attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander, Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and the international military are recruiting and  training only the best young children to find the future Mazer (the military leader). Ender is a shy, but strategically brilliant boy who is pulled out of his school to join the elite and ordained by Graff as the military's next great hope. Under training by the great Mazer Rackham, himself, Ender and his friends embark on an adventure of a lifetime, working together in an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 ★★★ ½ stars

Opens in Australia:                5^th December, 2013

Other Countries:                    Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

For some reason, I didn’t love the first Cloudy. Maybe all the food that I couldn’t eat annoyed me, or maybe I was suffering from animated film burnout. I vaguely remember there was a lot in 2009.

However, this one was fun and colourful and very enjoyable. The harsh critic children also enjoyed it tremendously.  Sony Pictures Animation is a solid film studio. They are not in the same league as Disney or Pixar, but they put out good, solid entertainment, if a little forgettable.

If you haven’t seen the first one, this one is still understandable. You may want to buy or rent the original thought to enjoy the backstory. This is approved as worthy, by harsh critics and me, for you to spend your school holiday budget on.

STUDIO BLURB

         Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks up where Sony Pictures Animation's hit comedy left off. Inventor Flint Lockwood's genius is finally being recognized as he's invited by his idol Chester V to join The Live Corp Company, where the best and brightest inventors in the world create technologies for the betterment of mankind. Chester's right-hand-gal - and one of his greatest inventions - is Barb (a highly evolved orangutan with a human brain, who is also devious, manipulative and likes to wear lipstick). It's always been Flint's dream to be recognized as a great inventor, but everything changes when he discovers that his most infamous machine (which turns water into food) is still operating and is now creating food-animal hybrids - "foodimals!" With the fate of humanity in his hands, Chester sends Flint and his friends on a dangerously delicious mission, battling hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees, apple pie-thons, double bacon cheespiders and other food creatures to save the world again!

Night Train to Lisbon ★ (only because the scenery was lovely)

Opens in Australia:                5^th December, 2013 

Other Countries:                    Release Information

Perth, Australia:                   See at Luna Cinemas

THOUGHTS

Good grief what the hell where they thinking?  This is not a film, but a means for putting insomniacs to sleep.  It is dreadful. When I searched through reviews after enduring it to see what other reviewers thought (because my friend actually liked it), I saw the word “euro-pudding” used to describe it. If this is what you call euro-pudding, then I am sticking with Pavlova.

The character of Raimund (played ridiculously morosely by Jeremy Irons) laments that his wife left him because he was boring.  I don’t think I would have left him; I think the only fair thing to do would be to slip something in his tea and put him and the world out of its misery.  What if he had had children? Would they be called Borelings?

All I wanted to do was leave the cinema through most of it.  It has great actors, acting badly. Don’t get on this train. It’s going nowhere, and the great crime is that it's going nowhere very slowly, and arrives at the land of Euro Pudding—a place you don’t want to visit.

P.S.  Have a look at the poster.  Do they look like interesting people with whom you want to spend two hours?  I think not.

STUDIO BLURB

Raimund Gregorius, a Swiss professor of old languages, saves a Portuguese beauty from committing suicide when she is about to take a lethal leap. Right after this incident he comes across a book written by Portuguese author Amadeu do Prado. It is a novel about the resistance against the late Portuguese ruler António de Oliveira Salazar and he gets obsessed with it. He starts to dedicate his life to the study of the Portuguese history in general and Amadeu do Prado's oeuvre in particular.

Delivery Man ★★★ stars

Opens in Australia:                5^th December, 2013
Other Countries:                    Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

This is the American version of a 2011 French Canadian film (Starbuck).  I sadly missed that film, so I can’t compare, but all the reviews say that it was far better than this direct copy.

Still, I enjoyed Delivery Man, and so did my family. It’s not outrageously funny and feels overly Hollywoodfied, but at least it is a different set-up to the normal boy meets girl and disaster strikes. Here, boy meets 142 of his children and must wade his way through that little number to win the heart of the girl.

It’s sweet, cute, and ultimately forgettable. But, sometimes, that is all you need.

STUDIO BLURB

From DreamWorks Pictures comes "Delivery Man", the story of affable underachiever David Wozniak, whose mundane life is turned upside down when he finds out that he fathered 533 children through sperm donations he made twenty years earlier. In debt to the mob, rejected by his pregnant girlfriend, things couldn't look worse for David when he is hit with a lawsuit from 142 of the 533 twenty-somethings who want to know the identity of the donor. As David struggles to decide whether or not he should reveal his true identity, he embarks on a journey that leads him to discover not only his true self but the father he could become as well. (c) Disney

What have you seen this week? Did you find our comments helpful or do you disagree? Share your thoughts with us.