August: Osage County
- By Elizabeth Best
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
When a family member dies, everyone gathers to pay their respects. They end up paying their disrespects.
What did we think?
Elizabeth says: It’s hard to know where to look with this many powerhouse performances competing for attention. There’s Meryl Streep as the manipulative matriarch dropping acid-tongued truth bombs; Juliette Lewis as the eternally upbeat self-deluding youngest daughter; Julia Roberts as the bitter first child so used to copping family abuse that it’s hardened her to the ones she cares about most. But is it too much? This adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play has so much melodrama it almost requires a theatrical setting to work. The delicious, explosive dialogue needs to seep into the stalls to diffuse the emotional build-up, or the pressure cooker is in danger of exploding with too much force. If you like the sort of epically corrosive family dysfunction seen in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, then this film is a show-stopper. If not, well, this is gonna be rather uncomfortable for you, isn’t it?
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- By Elizabeth Best
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
The continuing adventures of Bilbo Baggins as he and a band of dwarves seek to reclaim a lost kingdom.
What did we think?
Anthony says: This is not The Hobbit you read. In place of the original novel, Peter Jackson has served up an adventure where conflict and action take prominence over discovery and curiosity. It’s still a fun movie and the new character of Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) is enchanting, but purists may struggle a bit. The rest of the world will enjoy a better-than-average (but still bloated) movie full of great scenery and cinematography.
Philomena
- By Elizabeth Best
- 12 years ago
Marnie says: Philomena is “based on a true story” done right. The central premise – one woman’s tireless search for her son, and her strength in the face of heartbreak wrought by the hands of the Catholic Church – is compelling. Dench is a quiet powerhouse, and she and Coogan are delightful as the unlikely companions. Gorgeously captured scenery underscores the honest human drama. With a screenplay full of heart, the film packs an emotional punch yet never manipulates. It’s beautifully nuanced, moving cinema.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
- By Elizabeth Best
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
Life Magazine’s Walter Mitty works with photo negatives at a time when everything is going digital. He lives beyond his humdrum cubicle walls through a series of elaborate daydreams. When redundancy looms, his existence becomes more fantastic than he ever could have imagined.
What did we think?
Liz says: Stiller’s Mitty is a photo negative in a world of iPads; struggling for relevance but full of potential beauty in and of itself. His transformation from nebbish office worker to fulfilled human was cinematic chicken soup for my soul. The fact I am a journalist staring down the barrel of digital irrelevance myself probably had a little something to do with it, but this film touched me right in the warm fuzzies.
Frozen
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
After being orphaned (it’s a Disney movie after all) a pair of contrasting sisters face a world of isolation before a series of events trap the land in an eternal winter. Can the fearless optimist Anna release the icy grip of Anna (loosely based on The Snow Queen)?
What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: Frozen is a delightful return to classic Disney musical animation. It takes the fresh edginess and strong female characters of recent forays (the amazing Tangled and Wreck-Em Ralph) and combines them with the musical nature of The Little Mermaid. The result is a wonderful tale of friendship, family and frivolity. Simply adorable and one for all ages.
On a side note the preceding short ‘Get A Horse’ is simply incredible and an amazing tribute to the then-and-now of Disney.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
- By Stephen Scott
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
The true story* of a man so bad as a news anchor that he redefines how the news is presented. A heart-breaking tale of a man and a shark**.
*Not really a true story
**There is a shark.
What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: By the hymen of Olivia Newton-John this is a funny movie! If you found my opening remark off-putting, avoid Anchorman 2. It’s just as crass as the first. Just as weird. Just as funny. There’s a touch of Monty Python in the surreal nature of many sequences … speaking of surreal, fans of the original gang violence scene won’t be disappointed.
Thankfully I’m not an avid follower of mainstream pop culture these days, so the myriad of celebrity cameos went straight over my head (although I did recognise Kanye). I’m sure for the hip kids of today, this will add a bonus level of frivolity.