Terrific films reviewed this week and
a particularly great film for Perth film lovers to catch at the Lotterywest
film festival. This is the awards season
so two of these films, The Dallas Buyers
Club and 12 Years A Slave are
nominated everywhere. There’s also poor little Grudge Match which you would
do well to sidestep. It packs no punch I am afraid.
(My movie Pick
of the week)
The
Dallas Buyers Club ★★★★ ½
Opens
in Australia: 13th
February 2014
USA: 22nd November 2013 UK:
2nd Feburary 2014
Other
Countries: Release Information
MY THOUGHTS
Who will win the Academy award
for best actor this year? Matthew McConaughey. That’s who. I thought Leo was
a shoe in for the award in The Wolf of Wall Street, or Chiwetel
Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave but now
that I have seen this, I know they won’t win.
Not only did McConaughey shed 40lbs for this role and is unrecognizable, he turns in an incredible
performance.
Woodroof is not a sympathetic
character. He’s a bigot, a womanizer, a drug addict and looks like he needs a
good bath, but as McConaughey said in an interview you can empathize with his
character even though you don’t like him. But that’s only because McConaughey
plays him so well that you feel that way. Jared Leto who also lost a crazy
amount of weight to play the transsexual sidekick to Woodroof is also tearing
up the awards. He should win best
supporting actor, too
Go see this film and be appalled
yet again at the ridiculous bureaucracy of government departments as they allow
people to die rather than find ways to save them purely because they love their
red tape.
This is a great film that took a
long time to come to the screen. Go see
it for an incredible story and to see actors at the top of their game.
STUDIO BLURB
Matthew
McConaughey stars in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB as real-life Texas cowboy Ron Woodroof,
whose free-wheeling life was overturned in 1985 when he was diagnosed as
HIV-positive and given 30 days to live. These were the early days of the AIDS
epidemic, and the U.S. was divided over how to combat the virus. Ron, now
shunned and ostracized by many of his old friends, and bereft of
government-approved effective medicines, decided to take matters in his own
hands, tracking down alternative treatments from all over the world by means
both legal and illegal. Bypassing the establishment, the entrepreneurial
Woodroof joined forces with an unlikely band of renegades and outcasts - who he
once would have shunned - and established a hugely successful "buyers'
club." Their shared struggle for dignity and acceptance is a uniquely
American story of the transformative power of resilience. (c) Focus Features
All
is Lost ★★★★ ½
LOTTERYWEST
FILMS
Somerville 3-8th
Feb, 8pm Joondalup Pines 11-16th
Feb, 8pm
Opens
in Australia wide: 6th March, 2014
Other
Countries: Release Information
Perth, Australia: See at Luna
Cinemas
MY THOUGHTS
This is an impressive solo
performance from Robert Redford. The physicality of his performance, of a lone
man versing the ocean and the elements, belies his 76 years. Also impressive is that this is only the
second film for director and screenwriter, J.C. Chandor. Add this film to his
Oscar nominated, “Margin Call,” and he becomes a filmmaker to watch.
It’s an absorbing, hugely smart
story that will have you thinking “what next?” for this poor guy lost at
sea. The tension and dread are palpable.
It may be a simple concept that we have seen before, but with the skills of
Redford and Chandor it is elevated to a thrilling adventure classic.
And if you are a lucky Perth
resident, do get yourself along to the Lotterywest Films. It will be there for
the next two weeks. This is one you should not miss.
STUDIO BLURB
Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man (Redford)
wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a
shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation
equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a
violent storm. Despite his success in patching the breached hull, his mariner's
intuition and a strength that belies his age, the man barely survives the
tempest. Using only a sextant and nautical maps to chart his progress, he is
forced to rely on ocean currents to carry him into a shipping lane in hopes of
hailing a passing vessel. But with the sun unrelenting, sharks circling and his
meager supplies dwindling, the ever-resourceful sailor soon finds himself
staring his mortality in the face.
Grudge
Match ★★
Opens
in Australia: 30th
January 2014
USA: 25th December 2013 UK: 24th
January 2014
Other
Countries: Release Information
MY THOUGHTS
No, no, no. That’s what Stallone
should have said when De Niro approached him to do this. Then he should have
punched him in the nose and been done with it.
Terrible idea when you don’t have a good script and you cast Kim
Basinger in a key role. Was she always such a terrible actress? These iconic
characters that we know these actors for, from the Rocky series and Raging Bull
are nowhere to be seen in this film. But I bet the cynical producers thought film
lovers would come along and pay their money to rekindle the nostalgia. There are
better films at the moment to spend your money and time on. However if you do want a limp, unfunny comedy
with old actors in it and bad dialogue, please be my guest.
STUDIO BLURB
Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone star as old boxing rivals who come
out of retirement for one final match. On their first encounter in decades,
their long-festering feud erupts into an unintentionally hilarious melee that
instantly goes viral. The sudden social media frenzy transforms their local
grudge match into a must-see HBO event. Now, if they can just survive the
training, they may actually live to fight again. -- (C) Warner Bros.
12
Years a Slave ★★★★★
Opens
in Australia wide: 30th
January, 2014
Other
Countries: Release Information
Perth, Australia: See at Luna
Cinemas
MY THOUGHTS
As predicted this film is everywhere at the Academy awards. I will be
surprised if it doesn’t win. It’s the type of film the Academy likes.
Having seen it twice now I believe it is the most authentic film I’ve
ever seen on slavery in the U.S. south, and that may be because it is based on
an 1800’s memoir by Solomon Northup.
Thus it makes it a very difficult film to watch at times. While I had
heard the violence was graphic I actually didn’t find that the case. What is
graphic and probably more horrific is the absolute belief by the land owners
and those involved in the slave trade that these people were chattel. There is
no reticence in displaying this on screen and that was the hard part to
stomach. Some scenes involving a mother
being separated from her children are so heart-wrenching they hurt.
It’s a beautifully made film. Some visuals are artlike in their framing.
Everything means something, even just the burning of a letter and the camera
holding on the image until the last ember has burnt itself out before the screen
fades to black. It’s just beautiful imagery.
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon and Michael Fassbender as the cruel slave
owner Edwin Epps give everything to their roles, alongside a multitude of
amazing performances from the other actors. Nice little appearance by Brad Pitt
and Paul Giamatti, too.
It’s a fascinating, ugly, amazing, shouldn’t-be-missed piece of cinema.
STUDIO BLURB
MORE THAN A POWERFUL ELEGY, 12 YEARS A SLAVE IS A MESMERIZING TRIUMPH OF
ART AND POLEMICS. Indiewire
12 Years A Slave is Steve
McQueen’s fiercely powerful rendering of the memoirs of Solomon Northup. A free
man in New York in the 1840s, Northup was tricked, kidnapped and sold into
slavery in the Deep South. At the inhumane hands of plantation owners, he faces
a monumental struggle for survival. Vivid and nuanced, 12 Years A Slave is one
of the most widely lauded and hotly anticipated films of the year.
What have you seen this
week? Did you find our comments helpful or do you disagree? Share your thoughts
with us.
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