A fabulous indie production is
out this week: Nebraska. I know there
will be some that will wonder why it’s loved so much but I think the majority will see what I see. It’s a quiet piece but it
says so much in that space. Action fans will be happy for Lone Survivor and there are a couple of others I just didn’t love: Le Weekend and Winter’s Tale. But it’s a
good mix for film fans. For Perth folk, starting
on Monday at Somerville is a little gem of an Australian ghost documentary that
really suits the outdoor environment. Get along there while the weather is so
warm and wonderful.
(My movie Pick
of the week)
Nebraska
★★★★★
Opens
in Australia: 20th
February 2014
USA: 24th January 2014
UK: 6th December 2013
Other Countries: Release Information
Perth, Australia: See at Luna
Cinemas
MY THOUGHTS
This film is Smart and
Smarter. It’s a road trip tale of a Father and a son who come to understand
each other just a little more on a journey. But that is director Alexander
Payne’s nuance; his characters don’t enjoy a wide arc of discovery. But, isn’t
that more true to life than the revelations that most films offer with
characters wildly altered in their viewpoint. Most people don’t change; they
just become more accepting or a touch wiser.
Payne’s
masterpiece Nebraska is witty, fun and so deep that a week later I’m still
thinking on it. It’s been nominated for six academy awards including best
picture, director and screenplay, and deservedly so. It’s a pity that Matthew
McConaughey is so damn good in The Dallas
Buyer’s Club or I’d give the best actor award to Bruce Dern. See it, revel
in it. Screenplays and characters don’t get much better than this.
STUDIO BLURB
Director Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants) takes the helm for
this black and white road trip drama starring Bruce Dern as a tempestuous
Missouri father who's convinced he's won a million dollar magazine sweepstakes,
and Will Forte as the son who grudgingly agrees to drive him to Nebraska to
claim his winnings. Bob Odenkirk and Stacy Keach costar. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Winter’s
Tale ★★
Opens
in Australia: 13th
February 2014
USA: 14th February 2014
UK: 21st February 2014
Other Countries: Release Information
MY THOUGHTS
The tag line for this is
“Believe in miracles this Valentine’s day.” I think the producers are hoping
for a miracle: that this dull,
unimaginative, half-finished romance, fantasy drama misshapen mess will recover
its productions costs. I fear there will
be no miracles. Russell Crowe does a
good job playing a demon, actually. Will Smith is terrible as Satan (that guy
really just reads his lines) and someone in production decided if we turn the
music up loud, often, and make the sound effects even louder, then it will
cover up that we don’t have much of a story.
It poses questions on the interconnection of lives through time and then
provides no answers. Fail.
I believe it’s from a 1983 book.
I am sure the book is better. And this better be the last Colin Farrell film
where he wears suspenders, or he’s going to be typecast. No miracle here,
unless you’re an insomniac it may help.
STUDIO BLURB
Set in a mythic New York City and spanning more than a century,
"Winter's Tale" is a story of miracles, crossed destinies, and the age-old
battle between good and evil. Peter Lake (Farrell) is a master thief, who never
expected to have his own heart stolen by the beautiful Beverly Penn (Brown
Findlay). But their love is
star-crossed: she burns with a deadly form of consumption, and Peter has been
marked for a much more violent death by his one-time mentor, the demonic Pearly
Soames (Crowe). Peter desperately tries
to save his one true love, across time, against the forces of darkness, even as
Pearly does everything in his power to take him down—winner take all and loser
be damned. What Peter needs is a miracle, but only time will tell if he can
find one. (c) Warner Bros
Le
Weekend★★½
Opens
in Australia: 20th
February 2014
USA: 14th March 2014
UK: 11th October 2013
Other Countries: Release Information
Perth, Australia: See at Luna
Cinemas
MY THOUGHTS
I like the acting in this and the concept. And there are a couple of monologues and
dialogues delivered by Jim Broadbent and Lindsey Duncan that are sublimely
brilliant. But that doesn’t make up for it being a really weird film that can’t
decide what it wants to be.
A comedy? No, it’s not that funny. A romance? No, decidedly
anti-romance. Commentary on relationships? Only if you’re a cynic. Not only
that, it has a real mood of misery and hopelessness. See it at your own risk. I think it’s better
to wait for the DVD where you’ll be able to turn it off after you’ve decided
you’ve had enough of it, which was around the thirty minute mark for me. I
almost walked out, but my penchant for sitting in the middle of a row meant I’d
disturb everyone, so I stayed. Now I need a le weekend away to recover.
STUDIO BLURB
In Mr. Michell's magically buoyant and bittersweet film, Jim Broadbent
and Lindsay Duncan play a long-married couple who revisit Paris for a long
weekend for the first time since their honeymoon, in hopes of rekindling their
relationship-or, perhaps, to bring it to an end. Diffident, wistful Nick
(Broadbent) and demanding, take-charge Meg (Duncan) careen from harmony to
disharmony to resignation and back again as they take stock and grapple with
love, loss, regret and, disappointment, in their own very English way. When Meg
and Nick run into their insufferably successful old friend Morgan, an American
academic superstar with a fancy Parisian address played with pure delight by
Jeff Goldblum, their squabbles rise to a register that's both emotionally rich
and very funny. (c) Music Box
LONE
SURVIVOR ★★★★
Opens
in Australia: 20th
February 2014
USA: 10th January 2014
UK: 31st January 2014
Other Countries: Release Information
Perth, Australia: See at Luna
Cinemas
OUR THOUGHTS
This film is based on The New York Times bestselling memoir
novel of the same name. It’s action from the get-go telling the hellish tale of
four Navy SEALs on a mission to take out several valuable al-Qaeda operatives
in the mountains of Afghanistan.
The 2005 “Operation
Redwing” goes horribly wrong when the men are discovered and upon trying to
escape end up surrounded and pursued by Taliban who seem to have an endless
supply of ammunition and armaments. The
SEALS are outnumbered, outgunned and in unfamiliar territory. Mark Wahlberg
stars as Marcus Luttrell, the author of the first-person memoir. His fellow team members, (portrayed by Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster) display
incredible skill and courage as they fight to outwit their pursuers and
survive.
Action fans this is the film for you. Some of the scenes
will have you cringing with the violence and the pain the men are feeling as
they scramble all over the mountain.
There were multiple groans from our audience of reviewers as bodies
tumbled down embankments. My only complaint is that the title gives away the
ending (no letters please, I know that’s the title of the book—just sayin’). As a military thrillers go, it’s one of the
best, due to breakneck pacing by Director Peter Berg (Battleship, Hancock,
Friday Night Lights) and a compelling performance by Wahlberg.
STUDIO BLURB
Based
on The New York Times bestselling true story of heroism, courage and survival,
Lone Survivor tells the incredible tale of four Navy SEALs on a covert mission
to neutralize a high-level al-Qaeda operative. When they are ambushed by the enemy
in the mountains of Afghanistan, they face an impossible moral decision, the
small band is isolated from help and surrounded by a much larger force of
Taliban ready for war. As they confront
unthinkable odds together, the four men find reserves of strength and
resilience as they stay in the fight to the finish.
Mark
Wahlberg stars as Marcus Luttrell, the author of the first-person memoir “Lone
Survivor,” whose book has become a motivational resource for its lessons on how
the power of the human spirit is tested when we are pushed beyond our mental
and physical limits. Starring alongside
Wahlberg as the other members of the SEAL team are Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch
and Ben Foster.
Lone
Survivor is written and directed by Peter Berg, who again crafts a striking
portrait of the unbreakable bonds between men that he first explored in Friday
Night Lights.
LOTTERY WEST
FILMS
The
Darkside ★★★ ½ Australia
Somerville: 24th
Feb-2nd March 8pm, doors open 6pm
Join
Warwick Thornton for an introduction and Q&A on Mon 24 Feb.
OUR THOUGHTS
They
told us that The Darkside was scary. My pal who doesn’t do scary well was freaking
out. In the end it wasn’t really frightening but it was very interesting. It’s
a documentary of modern ghost stories from our indigenous culture in
Australia. The tales are told directly
to the camera as they would have been told in the true manner of storytelling,
by voice. Well-known actors tell the
stories as if they are the real people just talking to the camera with striking
cinematography around them.
What
lowered its star ranking for me and was a gripe for many of the reviewers who
were at the small screening were the totally unnecessary subtitles. I hope that
was just on our print because it doesn’t need them, and it’s very
distracting.
Some
of the stories are ho-hum, however some just drag you in and you are totally immersed
despite none of them being portrayed visually except for the actor speaking.
The more I think about this endeavor, the more I like it. It’s experimental and
different and surprisingly immersive. Best place that you could ever see it, is
at the outdoor venue of Somerville or Joondalup Pines. Treat yourself.
STUDIO BLURB
Ghost stories abound in
Australia’s Indigenous culture, and The Darkside invites you fireside to hear
these haunting perspectives on the afterlife. Director Warwick Thornton (Samson
& Delilah) has assembled a collection of touching and absurd ghost tales
from across the country, and by harnessing the story telling talents of some of
Australia’s most cherished actors (including Aaron Pedersen, Deborah Mailman
and Claudia Karvan), presents a mesmerising showcase of life-defining moments,
that speak of family and how we cope with change.