Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Count Vronsky in Anna Karenina. Source: Supplied
AS we near the pointy end of the awards' season, take a moment to brush up on the titles that are nominated for Oscars, as well as other films currently on release.
ANNA KARENINA (M) Turn the page, then turn the stage, UK, 129 min
All the world is a stage in the new Anna Karenina. Literally so. How so? The bulk of the film takes place inside a luxuriously appointed old theatre.
All of the atmospheric locations canvassed by novelist Leo Tolstoy - which swept the length of 19th century Russia - are still up there on the screen. But through a combination of cleverly designed interchangeable sets and some highly innovative sleight-of-camera, the action never really leaves the theatre.
If you can go with the grandiose flow, it is hard not to be wowed. A well-cast Keira Knightley is in career-best form in the title role of a married woman who sets Moscow society alight when she starts an affair with a younger man.
Co-stars Jude Law, Aaron Johnson. Directed by Joe Wright (Hanna). ***1/2
DJANGO UNCHAINED (MA15+), Tarantino unfiltered, US, 165 min
You should know by now whether you carry the Quentin Tarantino movie gene. So willing takers should buckle up for yet another brilliant wild ride.
A charismatic Jamie Foxx stars as Django, a slave whose freedom has been purchased by a dandy German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (a wonderful Christoph Waltz, once again making Tarantino's dialogue play like spoken music).
By way of obligation, Django agrees to spend some time in the employ of Schultz on just one condition : should the opportunity ever present itself, Schultz must help Django secure the freedom of his long-lost wife.
Django Unchained is a head-on collision between the reprehensible and the redeemable. A fitting clash, given the core subject of the picture is slavery in 1850s America. Remarkably, for all of its bloody excess and bloody-minded indulgence, this is the most humanised and passionate of the filmmaker's works to date.
This is a Tarantino enthused and energetic as ever, but newly engaged and enlightened as well.
Co-stars Leonard DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson. ****
ELLES (R18+) Takes a lot of looking to take one leap, France, 94 min
No Juliette Binoche, no movie. That is the simple verdict on this softcore sashay through the seedy student prostitution scene in Paris. The ever-reliable Binoche plays Anne, a magazine reporter working up a story on why young women are increasingly turning to sex work while completing their higher education.
Anne's subjects talk the torrid talk, while Anne herself can barely disguise when she is thrilled or appalled by what she hears. Not enough substance to the story to trump the explicit content that obviously earns the film its (rare for this day and age) R18+ rating. **1/2
FLIGHT (MA15+) Just crashed, but burned out long before, US, 135 min
Some folks might say Flight peaks very early. Those folks would be absolutely right. But what a peak it is. Whatever you do, do not show up late.
The opening half-hour is truly stunning. Denzel Washington is a commercial pilot who pulls an astonishing move during a troubled flight that saves the lives of almost all aboard. However, when a later toxicology report shows our hero was both drunk and high on cocaine, the celebrated flyboy is brought to ground very quickly.
The more we learn about this damaged human being - as convincingly portrayed by Washington, a man capable of Olympic levels of self-denial - the more we are left to wonder how he even made it into the cockpit that fateful morning.
Co-stars Kelly Reilly, John Goodman. ****
HANSEL AND GRETEL : WITCH HUNTERS (MA15+) Bedtime story a bad time, gory, US, 89 min
Just as the world huffed a collective "what the ...?" at 2012's Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter, this junky offering is equally, hopelessly unnecessary.
The famous fairytale is merely a leaping-off point for an addled action-fantasy-horror-comedy combo. And when it does take that jump, all potential to entertain, excite or amuse just keeps on plummeting.
Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) are a bro-sis witch-killing machine, always at the ready to whack anyone with a wand, a pointy black hat, or a flying broomstick. Unless you're a sucker for the unlikely-characters-as-action-heroes effect, stay right away from the entire genre. At least until someone makes Rhonda & Ketut: Zombie Hunters. *
THE IMPOSSIBLE (M) No way around the whole wide swirl, Spain, 113 min
In The Impossible, you know what's coming - the cataclysmic tsunami that exploded from beneath the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day 2004 - but you still won't know what hit you when it does arrive.
Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts play Henry and Maria, a British couple whose young family is torn apart when a tidal wave strikes the luxury Thai resort where they are holidaying.
To its credit, this fully-fledged disaster movie never once dares pitch itself as escapist entertainment. That would only serve to denigrate the many real-life tragedies associated with the event.
No, The Impossible is an experience from which there can be no escape. ***1/2
LES MISERABLES (M), A life on the run with a song at the ready, UK, 157 min
An impressively epic screen adaptation of the smash-hit musical based on the famous book by Victor Hugo. At the epicentre of this ever-rumbling, sprawling tale, you will see the ultimate man with a past, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). Chasing this noble fugitive all over 19th century France with unrelenting determination is Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe).
The imposing scale of this production does not end with its ambitious screenplay, and its many colourful characters, lavish settings and extended musical sequences.
Director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) and a committed cast (including Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried and Sacha Baron Cohen) go for broke in every scene. Even if you have a personal problem with musicals where everything spoken is sung, the bombast and bravado of it all will still wear down your resistance by the bittersweet end. ****
LIFE OF PI (PG), No choice but to grow with the flow, US-China, 125 min
Adapted from Yann Martel's Booker Prize-winning novel, Life of Pi is a film of many levels. You are free to move up or down, as the time floats by. Or you can stay right you are for a singular cinematic experience.
Either way, viewers of all ages are bound to be totally captivated. The story is every bit as incredible and intriguing as it sounds. A teenage Indian boy (gifted screen newcomer Suraj Sharma) and a wild Bengal tiger are the sole survivors of a tragic shipwreck. For the next 227 days, the duo drift across the ocean in a small lifeboat, looking to stay alive in spite of the threat each poses to the other.
What follows is not just an epic tale of survival, but also a poetic meditation upon both nature as a whole, and human nature in its many parts.
A simple, yet extraordinary work that offers much to look at. Much to think about. And above all else, much to feel. Highly recommended. ****1/2
LINCOLN (M) Mything in action, US, 152 min
This is not a conventional, birth-to-death biopic of America's greatest president. Instead, filmmaker Steven Spielberg narrows the focus to four short months in the shortened second term of Abraham Lincoln (played by Daniel Day-Lewis).
Nevertheless, Lincoln is a long film. A two-and-a-half-hour talk-fest in which Honest Abe's most significant achievement - the abolition of slavery - will be discussed into existence before your very eyes.
Luckily, for any viewer who may lose their way in this maze of florid chatter, there is a great performance by Day-Lewis to lead you back to clarity. The actor uses a reedy, high-pitched speaking voice for Lincoln, accurately depicted as more of a rambling raconteur than rabble-rousing orator by Tony Kushner's densely packed screenplay. Abe invariably takes an age to get to the point, but in keeping with the crucial nature of events covered here, it is always a point made for the ages.
Co-stars Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones. ***1/2
MOVIE 43 (MA15+) Go on, take the number and run, US, 98 min
The moment this mountainously moronic slab of dud comedy sketches hit US screens last month, the negative word-of-mouth went positively viral.
So is Movie 43 a car crash? No, that would imply this crappy comedy vehicle actually got moving at some point. Let's call it a flaming paper bag full of you-know-what left on the doorstep on your mind. A calamitously unfunny collection of rank, punchline-free jokes, starring big names who must have been blackmailed into participating.
Hugh Jackman plays a man whose private parts are not so private after all. Halle Berry busts out her right boob and makes guacamole with it. Naomi Watts is a suburban housewife who takes her son's sex education too seriously, and too far.
Best that can be said of Movie 43 is at least the filmmakers put their collective IQ in the title. {no stars}
SAFE HAVEN (M) Secret women's fizziness, US, 116 min
Another terrible torrent of tragi-romantic treacle to gush from the pen of author Nicholas Sparks (Dear John, The Last Song).
Julianne Hough plays Katie, a secretive woman who has recently fled a dark secret from her past. After secretly dying her hair blonde, Katie secretly starts a new life in a cute seaside hamlet. Where she not-so-secretly falls in love with a cute widowed dreamboat (Josh Duhamel). What is the secret? Will the dreamboat float away when he finds out? Fair questions.
The answers just might matter to those who just want something to stare, sigh and occasionally giggle at. Everyone else should metaphorically dye their hair blonde and move to another town until Safe Haven has finished its run in cinemas. *1/2
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (M) Falling apart to get it together, US, 127 min
An edgily offbeat love story of two highly-strung people rebounding from all-time lows. After a nervous breakdown, Pat (Bradley Cooper) is just another former inmate of a mental institution. Until he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a beautiful young widow just as manic-depressive and sharp-tongued as himself. How long will it take for each to realise the cure they need is standing right before them?
Sure, this is a stock-standard premise for many a fluffy film, but when addressed as frankly as it is here, familiarity just does not matter. To tag this as merely a feelgood movie – or worse, a romantic comedy – is to do it a great disservice.
Though a superb example of how both should be handled, there is a shape-shifting shrewdness afoot in even the most simplest scenes. Remarkably, the picture can expand or contract to any expectations. Acting is terrific, as is director David O. Russell's eclectic screenplay. The hard-headed humour of his dialogue trumps the soft-hearted nature of the tale exactly when it should.
Co-stars Jacki Weaver, Robert De Niro. ****1/2
THE SWEENEY (MA15+) You wince some, you lose some, UK, 109 min
A modern mauling of an old TV show that went quite alright in its day. If only because it was so consistently cheap, nasty and entertaining. The new version? Just nasty.
Ray Winstone stars as Reagan, the oldest, toughest member of London Metropolitan Police's legendary Flying Squad. If you pull a smash'n'grab, then Reagan and his young posse are gonna grab ya and smash ya.
It is C-grade cops'n'robbers stuff all the way here. Reagan's methods have Internal Affairs peering over his shoulder. A lot of blokes in black balaclavas break a lot of glass. Some car chases. Some more fights. Some sex. Some more fights. And dialogue that sounds as if it was composed by an online Cockney Slang Generator.
Everyone's a slag, a guv'nor, a geezer or a tart. *1/2
WEST OF MEMPHIS (MA15+) So many wrongs, so little right, US, 146 min
One summer afternoon in 1993, three young boys from the dirt-poor town of West Memphis, Arkansas went out playing together. Shortly after nightfall, they died together.
Three local teens thought to have Satanic inclinations were successfully tried for the children's murder, and thrown in jail for life. That should have been that. But it was not. In this absorbing, disturbing and devastating documentary, we discover the West Memphis police did not solve the crime at all. And three innocent men remained in jail for almost 20 years. The real killer is still out there. In fact, he probably features very prominently as a regular interviewee in this powerful work. Highly recommended. ****1/2
ZERO DARK THIRTY (M) Takes a lot of looking to take one leap, US, 157 min
From the makers of The Hurt Locker, a searing, challenging factual drama all about looking for a needle in a haystack.
The US government is in possession of every last detail worth knowing about the needle : Osama bin Laden, the most effective terrorist in history. The problem is that no-one knows where the haystack might be. It will take the CIA the best part of a decade to work it out. And then exactly 25 minutes to eliminate their target once they do.
As a blast from our recent past - reported quite clinically and decidedly powerfully in the present tense - Zero Dark Thirty does not undercharge the explosive nature of its subject matter.
Stars Jessica Chastain. ****1/2
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