Tom Hanks, caught up in the interwoven narratives of Cloud Atlas. Source: Supplied
BEFORE you get that bucket of popcorn and that frozen coke, read up on the best - and worst - movies that are being projected onto the big screen right now.
AMOUR (M) The end of love is just beginning, Austria-France, 122 min
A haunting, heartbreaking and utterly riveting look at real matters of life and death. The contrived events we often see in modern dramas are nowhere to be found. All we will see for the duration of Amour is a happily married elderly Parisian couple staring the end of their long union right in the eye. One of them is not long for this world. Both of them know it. This is the simple, powerful story of how each cope with the finality of the crisis before them. If the authentic, wrenching emotion of the experience doesn't get to you, the incredible performances by veteran leads Emmanuelle Riva (a Best Actress Oscar nominee) and Jean-Louis Trintignant most certainly will. ****
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
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (M) Works every witch way you look, US, 122 min
In a better world, Beautiful Creatures might be the next Twilight. Or in a perfect world, the original Twilight. OK, so it's not about a teenage girl who falls long and hard for a vampire. It is about a teenage boy who falls long and hard for a witch. Bah. Doesn't matter. What does matter is that Beautiful Creatures bristles with a catchy combo of wit, warmth and unworldly urgency that was never to be found in the Twilight movies. Your Bella and Edward in this scenario are star-crossed teens Lena (Alice Englert) and Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich). She's in the process of turning into a witch in a few months' time. He's hanging on for dear life, as mere mortals are not allowed to be romantically involved with spell-makers. Co-stars Jeremy Irons, Emmy Rossum. ***1/2
CLOUD ATLAS (M) When it doesn't reign, you'll snore, US-Germany, 172 min
You want an epic with a capital E? A real bum-numbing, head-scratching heap of high-concept cinema for the ages? Well, here it is. Adapted from the reputedly 'unfilmable' novel by David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas puts six different plots through their slow and deliberate paces across a 500-year timespan. With a multitude of actors (including Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant and Jim Broadbent) playing multiple roles, this is a monster truck loaded to full capacity with much profundity and banality. You may not like everything it is carrying, but it often inspires genuine awe as the whole thing passes you by. There's a little science fiction, a fair amount of random switching from heavy drama to light comedy, and a lot of posturing about how inter-connected everything in the world can be. Masterpiece or folly? Both. Collector's item cinema? Absolutely. Brought to you by the makers of The Matrix and Run Lola Run. ***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. ****
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. *
I GIVE IT A YEAR (M) Happy anti-anniversary!, UK, 101 min
This British rom-com is going after the same audience that made Death at a Funeral a hit 'round these here parts. Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall play newlyweds who seem to be the only two people in their social orbit who fail to realise they just weren't made for each other. Plenty of safe and predictable laughs are in the offing. Then again, if you feel like have your bad-taste buds tickled with edgier and dodgier fare, a good time awaits as well. However, these two lines of comic attack sometimes get tangled, and can't always be straightened out. Lanky, bespectacled Stephen Merchant saves the day when he can, peppering every scene with the first inappropriate thing that comes into his head. A fair, fun effort. **1/2
THE LAST STAND (MA15+) What a first comeback, US, 106 min
Contrary to what the laws of spelling say, there is no 'old' in Arnold. Not yet, anyway. That's right. At the age of 65, the one, the only Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned to the big screen to do those two things he does best. Bad guys will be blasted full of lead. Every building block of the English language will be ground down to phonetic rubble. Arnie plays a smalltown sheriff who is all that stands between a vicious fugitive drug lord and the Mexican border. Audaciously ridiculous moments come and go here - car chases are the house specialty - and you won't object to a single one. Welcome back, Arnie! Co-stars Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville. ***
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
THE PAPERBOY (MA15+) You wouldn't read about it, but you might just watch it, US, 103 min
Stop the presses! Start getting worried! Yes, everything you've heard about The Paperboy is true. This gritty, grotty thriller is one seriously demented affair, with several big-name actors going all the way with the down-and-dirty flow of it all. Nicole Kidman plays a promiscuous waitress with a hot crush on a cold-blooded killer (John Cusack). Meanwhile, an intrepid reporter (Matthew McConaughey) with a strange agenda investigates the murder case that put the notorious prisoner behind bars. Set in the late 1960s, the movie is tactless, shameless and almost proudly seedy. Nevertheless, it is always highly watchable, prone to truly fascinate an audience as it also genuinely appalls them. Co-stars Zac Efron. (opens SA April 11) ***
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
SAVE YOUR LEGS! (M) Over, and out, Australia, 91 min
The umpire raises his finger very early in the screen innings of this dud Australian cricket comedy. There is no life in the pitch whatsoever : a group of suburban Aussie hit-and-gigglers (spearheaded by Stephen Curry, Brendan Cowell and Damon Gameau) bluff themselves into an all-expenses-paid tournament in India, where results just don't go their way. The SYL! team struggle to lay the bat of a joke upon the ball of a punchline. All are dismissed cheaply, whether it be by running themselves out (of charm), or falling to an indisputably plum LBW (that's Lame Before Wicket). If you're really after some flannelled fooling-about on the sub-continent, check out the Australian Test team's current tour of India. That's no laughing matter either. *
SIDE EFFECTS (MA15+) Not your usual med-time story, US, 105 min
A deceptively intoxicating thriller that can play both highly intelligent and highly implausible all at once. After a nervous breakdown, Emily (Rooney Mara) is referred to a hotshot British psychiatrist, Jim (Jude Law). He prescribes a recently-released wonder drug which looks as if it might be the quick fix for all of Emily's problems. As we come to learn, the anti-depressant that Jim is dispensing does a hell of a lot more than what it says on the label. Side Effects sells its competing lines of business - a little Hitchcock-ish at times, a bit Basic Instinct at others - very effectively indeed. Nevertheless, it is best not to take that cautionary tale of medicinal woe all too seriously. The film cunningly conceals a camp streak for as long as it can. By the final half-hour, it can be hidden no longer. As usual, director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) is smart enough to never let such a tall story get the better of so many short, sharp thrills. Co-stars Channing Tatum. ***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
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
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét