What’s it about?
Intelligent, independent and beautiful Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) inherits her uncle’s farm and is determined to “astonish” everyone by making it prosper. As she pursues her goals, she also navigates the courtship of three men: a shepherd, a soldier and her wealthy, mature neighbour.

What did we think?
Francesca Percy says: I haven’t read Thomas Hardy’s novel, on which this is based, so I came to the story fresh. And it was excellent. It reminded me of a Merchant Ivory production, but it was grounded by the many hardships of the time and didn’t stray into sentimentality. It’s worth the price of the ticket just for the lush scenes of rural English life, but I was also entirely caught up in the story. The characters, particularly Bathsheba’s suitors, might have easily been one-dimensional stereotypes, but they were fully-realised and beautifully performed, and the subplots were just as affecting as the central focus on Bathsheba’s pursuit of a life of integrity and purpose, without compromise. I think I may have to read the book!

What’s It About?
When two teenage children vanish into the outback, their parents’ already troubled marriage unravels further.

What Did We Think?
Amy Currie says: This home-grown drama doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. Psychological drama? Whodunit? Neither? Parents Nicole Kidman and Joseph Finnes go for gritty, but look disconcertingly groomed and shiny for residents of an outback town (new arrivals, it’s true – but new arrivals from ANOTHER outback town).  Our Nicole’s performance is surprisingly good for a while, but ends up veering into samey melodrama, while local cop Hugo Weaving is as solid as ever. The beautifully shot film is obviously trying for a sense of mysterious uncertainty, but it’s one thing to leave questions unanswered and another to leave them frustratingly ignored.

aka Jurassic Parks and Recreation

What’s it about?

A theme park filled with living dinosaurs has put its chaotic past behind it and has been trading for years but their newest creation may be more than they can safely contain.

What we thought

Dan says: It’s impossible to measure up to the original Jurassic Park. It showed us movie monsters that we’d never seen before that reignited interest in the field of palaeontology. This script tries to out-do its predecessor with some truly absurd conceits. The strangest thing is that they all manage to work. The characters make some dumb decisions but the universe logic is tight and the action thick and visceral. People who love dinosaurs made this film and people who love dinosaurs will gobble it up.

What’s it about?
After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness – conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.

What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: Delightfully clever, Inside Out actually takes the Pixar formula of creating a kids movie with enough in it for the adults and flips it around. The intelligent writing and (simplified) subject matter is the core of the story and most of it flies over the heads of the younger audience but it’s wonderfully engaging on so many levels that it doesn’t matter.

It’s rare you can say ‘fun for the whole family’ and truly mean it but Inside Out fits the bill. This is a gloriously emotional film that – for me – ranks among Pixar’s very best. Whether it has the replayability factor for kids remains to be seen but the underlying message that our joy needs our sadness is one that should resonate for years to come.

What’s it about?
The rich are getting richer at an astronomical rate.
The poor are getting poorer at a faster rate.
The GFC was created by bankers obsessed with greed and riches.
We, the people, bailed out the banks with trillions of our dollars – putting our nations in debt.
Yet the bank bosses continue to earn over 300 times the wage their cleaners earn.

What do we think?
Stephen Scott says: Have you read the above synopsis or watched the trailer? Then you’ve seen the film. If you don’t know the basic details about how inequality is the basis of capitalism, then go ahead and watch Russell repeat the same thing over and over and over again for an hour and a half, until the last minute when he tells you his piss-poor solution. For a more balanced view, watch a real documentary about the GFC (the ABC’s recent Making Australia Great: Inside Our Longest Boom is an excellent place to start) or read the news instead.

What’s it about?
After some time in exile Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) returns to Hollywood to head up a movie studio. Naturally he hands his boy Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) a big fat cheque and a directors chair. When Vinnie needs more cash to complete the movie, everything comes unstuck for Ari.

What do we think?
Casey Moon-Watton says: Exactly as one expects from Entourage the movie starts with loads of beautiful women, and finishes highlighting the importance of surrounding yourself with people whom you care about, and who care about you. As a fan of the show I loved this movie. It was true to the format that worked for so many seasons, made a bunch of in jokes that seemed to go over my fellow reviewers heads, but had me laughing out loud. Ari Gold swearing more celebrities that you can poke a stick at and cameo by Warren Buffet…

Jeremy Piven is by far the stand out performer in this film, playing by far the most likeable character. Excuse me while I disappear into the night chanting “spin off”.

What’s it about?
A celebrated military contractor returns to the site of his greatest career triumphs and re-connects with a long-ago love while unexpectedly falling for the hard-charging Air Force watchdog assigned to him.

What did we think?
Angela Bowen says: Despite a very strong cast, Aloha doesn’t have any true weight. The film skims on some serious issues like military, love, and marital issues, but so shallowly that you struggle to care or even know why you are supposed to.The Hawaiian setting is used sparingly and is almost a side note. Aside from Emma Stone’s character repeatedly saying that she is Hawaiian, there is little to remind the audience of what should be a culturally rich location.

Even hard-core Rom Com fans, Bradley fans, or Emma fans may struggle with this one. There are some confusing and unnecessary side plots and a lack of believable chemistry between the characters. Aloha can mean hello or farewell, but I couldn’t wait to use it in the goodbye sense for this fim.

What’s it about?
The ‘big one’ – the overdue earthquake that has threatened California for over 100 years – finally hits. Cue special effects. And The Rock.

What did we think?
I grew up on disaster movies (Towering Inferno is seared into my brain) so have a special place in my heart for them. So I enjoy Hollywood revisiting them every few years despite the fact that most of them are quite poor. But there’s still something ‘fun’ about watching mayhem and carnage on the big screen and for special effects San Andreas is incredible despite the fact you’ve seen most of the best ones in the trailer. The rippling of the earth is almost worth the price of the ticket alone although how they spend so much on FX and still have have one of the worst photoshopped family pictures is beyond me. Plotwise it’s incredibly predictable and the fact a decorated war hero stole a government helicopter to save two family members over the thousands of people he is paid to save is completely overlooked. The science is woeful (don’t start me on the tsunami) and the aftermath is heavily sanitised. I still enjoyed it as a mindless popcorn movie but my wait for a new smart disaster flick continues.

What’s it about?
A headstrong teenage science enthusiast (Britt Robertson) teams up with a bitter inventor (George Clooney) to re-enter a trans-dimensional utopia and save the world from destruction.

What did we think?
Director Brad Bird has made dazzlingly fun movies such as The Incredibles and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and while Tomorrowland isn’t as good as his past work, it’s definitely in the same spirit. The visuals are very creative, and the main characters are endearing, with Robertson being an especially lively presence. The plot (co-written with Lost and Prometheus writer Damon Lindelof) is a bit hard to follow and sort of unsatisfying, but it’s still charming enough to be worth the ride.

What’s it about?
An Austrian woman born into privilege has her life overturned by a political revolt that targets the bourgeois but then rapidly spins into the systematic destruction of entire creeds. In an attempt to reconnect with those she has lost in the past she commits to reclaiming an important and valuable painting that was stolen from her family.

What did we think?
Dan says: This is a film that tries to stand on the emotional shoulders of the horrific acts of World War 2. If you have a strong connection to the tale this may well be enough to ignore the haphazard story-telling and scattershot tonal shifts.

Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds spend over two hours telling of the emotional weight and not enough time showing it. If you’re going to tell a true story that’s important, find the important parts of it to tell.