I’m a lucky girl because tonight I’m off to see
my pick of the week AGAIN at the awesome Luna Cinemas in Leedervile, Perth,
which has been transformed into The Grand Budapest Hotel. Thank you Nat from
Fox Studios.
I love The Grand Budapest Hotel and you should
try and catch it on the big screen. The other two films releasing this week in
Australia are Muppets Most Wanted, which I recommend to all Muppet fans and
non-fans. Any Muppet movie is a good movie.
Although, my pick for the holidays has to be The Lego Movie. The other film, Divergent, I liked not so much.
However, many others have enjoyed it. So if you are a fan of the books, you
already know you’re going to love it.
Enjoy your week, I’m off on a holiday for a few
hours stay at the Grand Budapest. Mendl I’m coming. Hold the lift…
(My movie Pick
of the week)
The
Grand Budapest Hotel ✪✪✪✪ ½
Opens
in Australia: 10TH
April 2014
USA: 28th March 2014
UK: 7th
March 2014
Other Countries: Release Information
Perth: Luna
Palace Cinemas
OUR THOUGHTS
The writer and director of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson, is an intriguing
storyteller. I go along every time to his films thinking how great they look
from the trailers—quirky, funny, sentimental, and starring a cast of incredible
talent. Sometimes, though I’m left with nothing more than “It was just okay.”
Wes Anderson’s version of the world is populated with surreal characters who
are not just oddball, but sometimes certifiable. I find it hard to identify
with them and the storyline.
Not so, though, with The Grand Budapest Hotel. This film does not miss a beat. There’s a
truckload of A-list actors, the story is adventurous and wonderful, and the
color palette Anderson’s uses is gorgeous. Think of the feel of his Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I did love, but
with people instead of animation, and you have some idea.
Do go check in to The Grand Budapest Hotel. I
think you will fall in love with it as much as I did and want to return there
again, which is exactly what I’m doing for second viewing. It has to be good
for me to sit through any film twice—I usually can’t afford the time. That’s
how special this one is.
If you live in
Perth, Western Australia, my hometown, I suggest you get down to Luna Cinemas
in Leederville tonight for the
last night of the immersive experience.
The
Oxford St exterior façade of the building has been transformed at night with spectacular 
Visitors
to the Luna Leederville can expect to see some of the characters from the film
brought to life. For those wanting to swan about the hotel there is also plenty
to do. Enjoy a themed cocktail at The Grand Budapest Lobby Bar, browse the
Grand Budapest Gallery, enjoy a complimentary Mendl’s cake (courtesy of
Baked180), take in a game of the custom-made game “Guess Who” featuring the
film’s characters, and take your picture at the Mendl’s cake box wall (and
share it: #thegrandbudapesthotel). Sounds
fantastic, doesn’t it?
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
WINDSOR
SOIREE
To
celebrate The Grand Budapest Hotel at the Windsor you are cordially invited to
join us for an afternoon soirée on
Sunday 13 April from 4.00pm featuring Brown Brothers Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay
Non-vintage and a musical ensemble of the talented WA Youth Jazz Orchestra
musicians playing from prior to the
screening of the film at 4.45pm
Tickets
now on sale and online now
STUDIO BLURB
Following his
succesful Moonrise Kingdom Wes Anderon's latest comic delight, THE GRAND
BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a
famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who
becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a
priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune --
all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent.
Featuring
an A-list cast that includes Ralph Fiennes, newcomer Tony Revolori, who plays
Zero, a lobby boy in the hotel , Tilda Swinton,
F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jude
Law, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman and Léa
Seydoux and many more...
The
Muppets Most Wanted ✪✪✪ ½
Opens
in Australia: 10TH April 2014
USA: 21st March 2014
UK: 28th
March 2014
Other Countries: Release Information
OUR THOUGHTS
Who doesn’t love the Muppets? They’re cute, witty
and remind all of us over twenty of our childhood. The reboot in their film
series, The Muppets (2011) was fun,
but I didn’t love it like I thought I would.
However this latest from the ensemble really
tickled my funny bone and my family’s. Most
of my fellow critics preferred the first because they said they enjoyed the
first’s silly-stupid story. Yet, I preferred this one because it wasn’t as
silly. So based on that if you liked the craziness of the first you might be
disappointed, but if you are like me you might like this one.
Either way, it’s still the Muppets and they are
always good for a laugh and a load of cute mischief. Be warned it might drive
you crazy trying to remember who the actors are in the cameos. Keep a look out
for an almost unrecognizable Tom Hiddleston at the end as the Escape Artist.
STUDIO BLURB
Disney's
"Muppets Most Wanted" takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour,
selling out grand theaters in some of Europe's most exciting destinations,
including Berlin, Madrid, Dublin and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets
overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international
crime caper headed by Constantine-the World's Number One Criminal and a dead
ringer for Kermit the Frog-and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two,
portrayed by Ricky Gervais. The film stars Tina Fey as Nadya, a feisty prison
guard, and Ty Burrell as Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon.(c) Disney
Divergent
✪✪
Opens
in Australia: 10TH April 2014
USA: 21st March 2014
UK: 4th
March 2014
Other Countries: Release Information
OUR THOUGHTS
Disclaimer here: I did not enjoy the Divergent trilogy
series written by Veronica Roth. While the stories of dystopian societies are
my favorite plots, this story in book form and now translated to film was so
plot hole-ridden in the book and the film that I felt it difficult to enjoy.
In saying this though, my views won’t make an
ounce of difference to the success of the books or the film because the book
and its follow-ups have sat at the top of the bestseller charts most of last
year and so far through 2014. Tweens and teenagers love this book and they will
love this film.
Its 2 hours and 20 minutes of slow dialogue,
dull grey tones, and odd plot turns. Someone needs to explain to me, also, why
there are so many trains running around in future Chicago with no people on
them that just happen to pass by when our protagonists need a ride.
Most of the adult women in the preview audience
seemed particularly enamored with Four (Theo James). Mothers, if your daughters
want to go see this, you may find him a small mercy.
You will see mixed reviews on it and that could
be because it is aimed squarely at the young adult market. It’s by the numbers
YA fare following on from Twilight
and Hunger Games. I call it a poor
cinema-goer’s Hunger Games but then
they do ask for a decent chunk of change to sit through these, so in this case
you may be better off with the book. I think it sells for cheaper than the film
ticket.
STUDIO BLURB
DIVERGENT is a
thrilling action-adventure film set in a world where people are divided into
distinct factions based on human virtues. Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) is
warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she
discovers a conspiracy by a faction leader (Kate Winslet) to destroy all
Divergents, Tris must learn to trust in the mysterious Four (Theo James) and
together they must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's
too late. Based on the best-selling book series by Veronica Roth. (C) Summit
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