What's new at the cinema June 11-18
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
MARSHLANDS ★★★★
Crime (R16, violence, offensive language, content that may disturb).
'A kind of a cross between True Detective and The Secret in Their Eyes, this Iberian crime thriller sees two disparate detectives attempt to solve the case of a serial murderer in Southern rural Spain. Writer-director Alberto Rodriguez does a superb job of creating a sense of place and space, with bleached visuals, stunning overhead shots and an understated score projecting an overwhelming feeling of isolation and a growing feeling of dread.' – James Croot.
OPENING
BEFORE THE WINTER CHILL
★★★ Drama (M, offensive language).
The truth behind a neurosurgeon's suspected affair is darker and more complicated this his wife fears. Daniel Auteuil and Kristin Scott Thomas star. 'Though there's plenty of thoughtful meditation, there's also the faint whiff of middle-aged wish fulfilment. The result is elegant if frosty, and just a touch too long in the tooth.' – Total Film.
HOT PURSUIT
★★ Comedy (M, violence & sexual references).
Guilt Trip's Anne Fletcher directs Reese Witherspoon as a cop with obsessive compulsive disorder escorting material girl (and gangster's moll) Sofia Vergara cross-country to testify against a drug lord. 'Often misfires with near-Happy Madison levels of imprecision.' – Variety.
JURASSIC WORLD (3-D)
Action (M, violence).
The dinosaur franchise's first reboot in 14 years is a direct sequel to the 1994 original, when a new attraction at Jurassic Park goes on the rampage. Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) directs Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in a screenplay he co-wrote with the writers of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
CONTINUING
ALOHA
★★½ Romantic-comedy (PG, coarse language).
A celebrated military contractor (Bradley Cooper) falls for an Air Force watchdog (Emma Stone) amid reuniting with a lost love (Rachel McAdams). 'A film of rare moments rather than a memorable redemption tale, Aloha works best as a straight screwball comedy.' – James Croot.
ENTOURAGE
★½ Comedy (R16, sex scenes, nudity, drug use, offensive language).
Movie star Vincent Chase wants to direct his first movie in this insider Hollywood comedy. 'As far as pointless spin-off movies from OK TV shows go, this isn't Sex and the City, it's Sex and the City 2.' – Graeme Tuckett.
TANGERINES
★★★★ Drama (M, violence, offensive language).
An Abkhazian orchardist cares for two wounded soldiers on opposite sides of the 1992 Georgia conflict. 'Estonian director Zaza Urushadze lays out sturdy performances, economic and effective dialogue, a frisson of well-choreographed violence and some truly beautiful photography.' – Graeme Tuckett.
TOMORROWLAND
★★★½ Sci-fi (PG, violence, coarse language).
Britt Robertson (The Longest Ride) plays a science-mad teenager who discovers a strange land and meets an even stranger scientist (George Clooney). 'Charmingly put together, over complicated and unashamedly ambitious.' – Graeme Tuckett.
GEMMA BOVERY
★★★½ Romance (M, violence, offensive language, sex scenes) Madame Bovary variation, about a French baker (Fabrice Luchini) infatuated with a passionate young Englishwoman (Gemma Arterton). 'A mostly entertaining romp.' – James Croot.
NOBLE
★★★★ Drama (M, violence, offensive language, sex scenes).
True story of an Irish orphan who grows up to become the saviour of Vietnamese street kids. 'Tough, honest and joyful.' – Graeme Tuckett.
SAN ANDREAS
★★ Disaster (M, offensive language).
A search and rescue pilot searches for his daughter in 'quake-ravaged California. 'An absolutely atrocious film that just happens to have some world-class stunts and special effects, and a few good unintentional laughs.' – Graeme Tuckett.
DAVID BOWIE IS
★★½ Documentary (PG, coarse language, sexual and drug references). The film of the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition. 'The man behind the songs remains as enigmatic and out of reach as ever.' – Graeme Tuckett.
POLTERGEIST
★★★½ Horror (M, supernatural themes, frightening scenes).
Re-make of a classic about a youngster abducted by terrifying apparitions. 'Underneath the clever new subtexts, solid cast and more seamless effects, Poltergeist is hampered by an overwhelming feeling of deja vu.' – James Croot.
SPY
★★★½ Comedy (R16, violence, sexual references, offensive language.).
Melissa McCarthy plays a desk-bound CIA analyst who infiltrates an arms dealing ring. 'Exactly the serviceable Bond-satire you were expecting, but the genius – as always – is in the details.' – Graeme Tuckett.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
★★★★ Action (R16, violence, content that may disturb).
'A ceaseless and berserk sequence of chases, gunfights, outrageous stunts and quite startling visual and sonic inventiveness.' – Graeme Tuckett.
WILD TALES
★★★★ Drama (R16, violence, offensive language, sex scenes).
An Academy Award-nominated Argentinian anthology of six short films. 'Some of them are quite brilliant, a couple merely good, and one of them made me laugh harder than anything I've seen in months.' – Graeme Tuckett.
THE GROUND WE WON
★★★★★ Documentary (M, offensive language, sexual references, nudity, content that may offend).
On and off the field with Reporoa's senior rugby team. 'A startling, ferociously intelligent, disturbing, heart-warming and hauntingly beautiful piece of film-making.' – Graeme Tuckett.
PITCH PERFECT 2
★★★ Musical comedy (M, sexual references).
'While there are plenty of laughs to be had from a now familiar cast of crazy characters, this sequel falls into the predictable trap of overstuffing the subplots and slightly forgetting what made the first movie such a success.' – James Croot.
THAT SUGAR FILM
★★★★½ Documentary (PG, nudity, coarse language).
'This smart, entertaining film argues very persuasively that our generation's obesity epidemic is almost completely the fault of our oblivious and unwitting consumption of fructose sugars.' – Graeme Tuckett.
BOYCHOIR
★★★ Drama (PG, violence, coarse language).
Dustin Hoffman plays the tough-love conductor of a singing academy who shapes the raw talent of a gifted but homeless 11-year-old. 'Everything feels just a little predictable, a bit stagey, a touch contrived.' – James Croot.
LEVIATHAN
★★★★★ Satire (M, violence, sexual references).
'Either an excoriating and richly allusive portrait of Russia today. Or a startlingly clever parody of everything us smug western cinephiles expect of a Russian movie.' – Graeme Tuckett.
TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
★★★★½ Drama (M, content may disturb).
A British woman comes of age during World War I. 'A handsomely mounted, resolutely old-school work: the epitome of 'well crafted'.' – Total Film.
WOMAN IN GOLD
★★★½ Drama (M, offensive language).
Helen Mirren plays an elderly Jew who tries to reclaim her family's Nazi-plundered art back from Vienna's Belvedere Gallery. 'An over-lit and under-written melodrama.' – Graeme Tuckett.
DIOR AND I
★★★★½ Documentary
'I've never seen a 'fashion film' that so consciously demystifies the process, but which at the same time makes the work and the craft so dazzling.' – Graeme Tuckett.
THE SALT OF THE EARTH
★★★★★ Documentary (M, content may disturb).
Wim Wenders' award-winning profile of Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado. 'A brilliant film, of a life brilliantly lived.' – Graeme Tuckett.
PAPER PLANES
★★★★ Family (PG).
'Working within the template of a bog-standard kids' sports movie, excellent Australian director Robert Connolly (Balibo, The Bank) stuffs his film with decent actors, funny asides, a couple of very well-realised scenes and a sense of wonder that really is infectious.' – Graeme Tuckett.
A ROYAL NIGHT OUT
★★★½ Romance (M, adult themes).
Young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret celebrate VE Day with the commoners. 'Takes that tiny kernel of truth, and spins it into a farcical madcap yarn.' – Graeme Tuckett.
SLOW WEST
★★ Western (R13, violence, offensive language).
'Takes the bleakly comic ideas of a couple of hellishly good modern Westerns – Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff, and Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man – and goes nowhere fast with them.' – Graeme Tuckett.