Sunday, March 10, 2013

Weekly Film Review Round Up 10th March 2013


THIS WEEK'S PREVIEWS

What should you spend your precious dollars on when visiting the cinema? What needs popcorn to enjoy?  And what needs waiting until DVD?
If you have seen any of these or want to see them and have a comment please feel free to share. We love hearing from our readers.

(My movie Pick of the week)
Oz the Great and Powerful ★★★½

Opens in Australia: 7th March 2013
Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

Not as great and powerful as it thinks it is.  It is entertaining if you ignore that it seems a bit patched together.  From what I've read, that is exactly how it was done in the end. Feels like a lot of hands have been tinkering here trying to put it in the league of Alice in Wonderland earnings. That trick remains to be seen.   But it does use 3D well.  You won't come out of this absolutely raving but you will feel you have had an enjoyable couple of hours.  For the piraters: this is better seen on the big screen in 3D. Don't try this one at home.  You will get what you paid for. 
Read my full review here CLICK HERE

STUDIO BLURB
           Disney's fantastical adventure "Oz The Great and Powerful," directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum's beloved wizard character. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking-that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great wizard but into a better man as well. When small-time magician Oscar Diggs (James Franco) pulls one flimflam too many, he finds himself hurled into the fantastical Land of Oz where he must somehow transform himself into the great wizard-and just maybe into a better man as well. -- (C) Walt Disney

Great Expectations ★★★★

Opens in Australia: 7th March 2013
Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS
A good, solid version of Great Expectations and I have seen most of them. Helen Bonham-Carter was born to play Miss Havisham and Ralph Fiennes is a very suitable Magwitch.  Relative new comer Jeremy Irvine is a rather scrumptious Pip.
It’s such an age old tale of love and desire and to be more than what life has delivered you, that I can never miss an opportunity to see a new version.  Although, probably nothing will ever live up to the John Mills 1946 version, this one looks gorgeous and skips along at a great pace as we follow Pip, once again, on his journey to discover what is important in life.
All lovers of period films, go see it.  You will not be disappointed.

STUDIO BLURB
Great Expectations is a 2012 British film adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel of the same name. The film was directed by Mike Newell, with the adapted screenplay by David Nicholls, and stars Jeremy Irvine, Helena Bonham Carter, Holliday Grainger, Ralph Fiennes and Robbie Coltrane.

Broken City ★★

Opens in Australia: 7th March 2013
Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS
I spent a fair bit of this film trying to work out what the heck was going on.  When you read as many books and see as many films as I see, you expect you have a good feel for story-lines and following a plot.  But nah, it was lost on me. 
This was overly complicated and really about as good as an average episode of Law and Order.  Russel Crowe has had a bad year and I really think this one just rubs more salt in the wound. And Mark Wahlberg just walked casually through this role.
However, in saying this, my friend enjoyed it.  If you watch a lot of police shows this will all feel very familiar and when you are coughing up nearly twenty dollars a ticket I think it should at least be more interesting than free-to-air television. The script is more corrupt than the politics.  

STUDIO BLURB
        In a broken city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) seeks redemption and revenge after being double-crossed and then framed by its most powerful figure, the mayor (Russell Crowe). Billy's relentless pursuit of justice, matched only by his streetwise toughness, makes him an unstoppable force and the mayor's worst nightmare. (c) Fox

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


No comments:

Post a Comment