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IN BRIEF

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HOTEL COOLGARDIE

“Rough as guts”
DIRECTOR: Pete Gleeson
MA15+ / 83 minutes
Opens June 15, 2017

Shining a bright light on a corner of Australia best left in the dark, it’s unlikely the Coolgardie Tourist Board will be showing this film anytime soon. An hour outside Kalgoorlie is the dusty intersection of Coolgardie and its now infamous watering hole. The ‘woofer’ bar staff, two good time girls from Britain, have done their stint and are being replaced by a couple of Finnish backpackers. We know the newbies are in trouble from the start, if the publican’s request for sheilas with looks and tits above hospitality skills is anything to go by. It is: he’s a monster and the Finns have no idea what they’re letting themselves in for. So starts this challenging fly-on-the-wall documentary about outback life inside the Hotel Coolgardie. The rough-as-guts reality of this small community of one thousand deadbeats and alcoholics is exactly what you’d expect, with only the occasional diamond glinting in the recesses of a coal black town. Eyes wide in horror, the Finns plan their escape while navigating a cavalcade of grotesques, by night and day, and it’s not as easy as it sounds. This nightmare of a story, the lovechild of Sylvania Waters and Wolf Creek, transfixes like a cobra in a car crash to show there’s more than one way to kill a backpacker in the outback. // COLIN FRASER

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THE MUMMY

“What were they thinking?”
DIRECTOR: Alex Kurtzman
M / 110 minutes
Opens June 8, 2017

Oh my. Tom Cruise in a Mummy reboot? Russell Crowe as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? In a Mummy movie? Seriously, what were they thinking? Box office no doubt and the hope of creating a Dark Universe franchise to rival those over at DC or Marvel. Problem is, it’s The Mummy which hasn’t had the best of runs over the years (Brendan Fraser anyone?) And if the only second string character who’s lined up for an inevitable origins spin off is Dr Jekyll, then you might want to rethink the whole concept. But they didn’t and here we are with Tom doing his all too familiar run-and-yell routine in the spirit of a character some thirty years his junior. And let’s not even concern ourselves with Dr Jekyll (dumb dumb dumb). There are some moments (in truth, Tom handles this kind of action nonsense with a degree of conviction), but mostly it’s only suitable as the fourth film on your way to Europe; the one you can barely remember watching when you get there. And that’s as it ought to be. // COLIN FRASER

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THE SENSE OF AN ENDING

“Complex”
DIRECTOR: Ritesh Batra
M / 108 minutes
Opens May 25, 2017

It’s been said that memory is essential to our lives because it informs the present. The film The Sense Of An Ending shows how it can sometimes resurrect itself and bite one squarely on the nether regions. This character-driven study in human relationships is an adaptation of the 2011 Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name by Julian Barnes. It centres on the recall of a 70-something curmudgeon Tony Webster (Jim Broadbent), a retired gent who now owns a camera shop in a north London borough. He’s divorced from his long-suffering wife Margaret (Harriet Walter) but he still maintains a friendly, if somewhat perfunctory relationship with her. They both dote on their pregnant daughter Susie (Michelle Dockery), who’s forging ahead with her plan to be a single mother while relying on physical and emotional help from her parents. Tony wanders through the motions of his life emotionally unscathed until, one day, he receives a letter from a solicitor to say that he’s been bequeathed a diary from a university girlfriend’s mother, Sarah Ford (Emily Mortimer), and he sets out to retrieve it from his dim-distant ex, Veronica (Charlotte Rampling). She, however, is just as determined to keep it from him. But why? What he finds causes Tony to examine his memory and re-evaluate all his presumptions as he relives the events of his early years. Like all good yarns about life, Ritesh Batra’s film contains a complex, very emotional, intriguing script that keeps you guessing. It’s a fine piece of British drama with superb performances by all the characters, especially Broadbent, who never fails to impress. Rampling, too, delivers a solid, if somewhat arch portrayal of a woman who’s lived her life embittered by the past and who is not ready to forgive, or indeed forget. This is a stark reminder that if you carry your baggage with you, life can become a trial and not a cause for celebration. The Sense Of An Ending is at times painful to watch but it’s the sort of film that will have you thinking about your own life and actions for days afterwards. // SALT

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WILSON

“Sub-par”
DIRECTOR: Craig Johnson
M / 93 minutes
Opens May 25, 2017

Landing as some kind of sub-Woody Allen, sub-Little Miss Sunshine, sub-par indie comedy-drama, Wilson is so much less than the sum of its parts. Starring the often interesting Woody Harrelson and always excellent Laura Dern, this coming-of-age yarn (Wilson is touching fifty and just learning to become an adult) should be quietly excellent instead of noisily frustrating (see above re sub-Allen). Based on a graphic novel, it relates the trials of a cheerfully awkward and socially provocative man who tells it like it is, although people don’t want to hear it. Starved of company, he hooks up with his ex-wife only to learn he has an estranged teenage daughter. Together they hunt down the socially awkward and dismally unchallenging teenager, a choice that has dire consequences for everyone. It’s said that Wilson the graphic novel is a much more complex creation than Craig Johnson’s film, and it would have to be given the freewheeling, simplistic treatment of darker themes that hang just beyond reach of the camera. Harrelson’s ambling tone is charming enough, but one ill-conceived and ill-matched with the insufferable nature of Wilson the person, and the cynical heart of Wilson the film. Quirk doesn’t cut it, and by the time Johnson buries everything under layers of misplaced mawkish ‘charm’ tied to incomprehensible plot turns, his film quickly becomes as much of a mess as the man it’s focussed upon. // COLIN FRASER

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NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER

“Inscrutable…enigmatic”
DIRECTOR: Joseph Cedar
M / 118 minutes
Opens May 25, 2017

There are clear guidelines about the sorts of films you should watch on a plane. Indie films often reconstruct time in a lethargic fashion that may be pleasing in a cinema, but at 30,000 feet with 23 hours of flight time ahead of you, not so much. So it is with Norman: The Moderate Rise And Tragic Fall Of A New York Fixer whose spun narrative is best avoided on a trans-polar flight. Starring Richard Gere who conjures up one of his finest performances in years, Norman tells the story of an unlikely man whose connections help others get deals done. Quite what Norman gets out of it is the heart of this tale, for here is a man who is quite probably penniless, certainly homeless and runs his ‘business’ from any eatery, church or other public space where he can get a mobile signal. His capacity to work on anything, from anywhere, certainly speaks to the age of digital disruption and underemployment. So opaque is his professional persona and personal agenda that even Norman is struggling to understand who, or what, Norman is. The plot (he’s trying to fix a deal between an Israeli politician and US businessmen) is largely background to larger themes the film is hoping to address. It takes some time for Norman to take shape, and so fluid is that character that you’re never entirely sure he actually has before the end credits roll. It’s enigmatic viewing to say the least. There’s more than a touch of classical stage about Norman: think Miller or Stoppard; and in Gere’s deft hands, the inscrutable everyman / no man becomes someone you care about while not truly understanding why. No easy task when a little of this character goes a very long way (see above re the perils of indie films on flights): think of Norman as the sad, humourless alter-ego to one of Woody Allen’s more frustrating characters. Yet for all these shades of grey, Norman is oddly colourful and compelling, a film that will have cinema audiences chomping at the bit to deconstruct. Just not those still 23 hours from destination. // COLIN FRASER

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DON’T TELL

“Brilliant”
DIRECTOR: Tori Garrett
M / 108 minutes
Opens May 18, 2017

Based on a true story, a groundbreaking 2001 court case, Don’t Tell is a brilliant portrayal of triumph over evil. Tori Garrett’s debut feature film follows the case of a young woman, Lyndal (Sara West), who was the victim of sexual abuse by a boarding master, Kevin Guy (Gyton Grantley), at her prestigious Toowoomba Preparatory School. Lyndal was only 11-years-old when the abuse commenced and it took another 11 tormented years before she would return to her Queensland home to face the demons that had been haunting her ever since. There she engaged local lawyer Stephen Roche (Aden Young), who was initially reluctant to come on board because he’d recently lost a similar case plus he had doubts about the troubled Lyndal’s strength of purpose. He changed his mind, however, when he formed the opinion that Lyndal was indeed strong enough to take on the might of the Anglican Church (who ran the school and who believed that the case against them ended with Kevin Guy’s suicide 11 years earlier) and learnt that she had the professional support of her therapist, Joy Conolly (Rachel Griffiths). Roche joined forces with young colleague Jodie Collins (Ashlee Lollback) and seasoned barrister Bob Myers (Jack Thompson), together comprising a formidable team determined to take on the weight of the Anglican Church establishment, represented in court by barrister Jean Dalton (Jacqueline McKenzie). The court room scenes are particularly well structured, as is James Greville, Ursula Cleary and Anne Brooksbank’s script, adding authenticity to Roche’s first-hand account of the ghastly events. Don’t Tell is one of the best Aussie films of the year and is a fine platform for portraying the depth of Australian movie-making talent. It tells an important story that is topical to this day. // SALT

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JOHN WICK:
CHAPTER 2

“Disappoints”
DIRECTOR: Chad Stahelski
MA15+ / 122 minutes
Opens May 18, 2017

John Wick: Chapter 2 picks up where John Wick left off but while the first film was a pretty exhilarating ride, this OTT sequel disappoints. It’s a case of more is less. Directed once again by Chad Stahelski, the film opens with retired hitman Wick (Keanu Reeves) attempting to collect his vintage ’69 Mustang from the Russian mobsters who’d stolen it in the first film. In the ensuing fight, the car is trashed but Wick considers the debt settled and makes peace with the mob boss, one of the last men standing. Returning to his opulent home and the companionship of his new puppy, he’s about to resume his life of retirement when a mafia capo, Santino D’Antonio (Ricardo Scamarcio), calls in his marker and compels Wick to take on the job of assassinating his sister so that he can fill her position at organised crime’s top table. The subsequent mayhem involves various lowlifes and ‘men of honour’ played by a stellar cast, among them Ruby Rose, Common, John Leguizamo, Laurence Fishburne and, reprising his role from the first chapter, Ian McShane. These encounters send the script into freefall, however, with relentless gun battles, car chases and a body count that’s so ridiculous you soon lose interest as the corpses pile up and up. The computer game-like violence supports the movie’s premise that in this secret underworld of assassins, “it’s never worth stabbing the Devil in the back”, Wick of course being the Devil. This overwrought piece of film-making targets the same audience of adolescent males who secured the massive box office takings of the original and in this it will probably succeed but John Wick: Chapter 2 lacks the style and balletic grace of John Wick. It’s aided to a degree by the fabulous locations in NYC and Rome, and Wick’s new four-legged friend brings a bit of an ‘aww’ factor to the film, but even these pleasures can’t save this over-excited effort. // SALT

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AMERICAN ESSENTAILS
FILM FESTIVAL 2017

SYD / MEL / CAN / BRIS / ADL
Opens May 9-24, 2017

In his welcome introduction in the American Essentials Film Festival 2017 program, the artistic director Richard Sowada states that, “straddling styles as diverse as thriller, melodrama, adventure, comedy, coming of age, body horror, political documentary, symphonic documentary, classics, music, cult, art and biography there has to be something for everybody!” And, judging by the eclectic line-up, you’d have to agree with him. Many of the films are having their Australian premieres but the program also includes a few earlier masterpieces such as Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, Jed Johnson’s Andy Warhol’s Bad and Barbet Schroeder’s Barfly. The retrospective portion also includes two Mike Nichols screenings, The Graduate and Postcards From The Edge.

There are some wonderful documentaries, a number of which have a political bent, including All Governments Lie, The Bomb and American Anarchist. There’s also a fabulous doco on David Lynch that examines his early visual art career, David Lynch: The Art Life, coupled with a screening of Eraserhead - not to be missed - and a separate screening of Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Of special interest to Australian audiences is Becoming Bond, a docudrama that attempts to answer the question, why was there only ever one George Lazenby Bond film?

And, it doesn’t stop there… with 28 titles spread over a period of two weeks, this is a wide-ranging festival. Recent dramatic features include the latest Todd Solondz film, Weiner-Dog, which follows an adorable sausage dog as it moves from family to family and person to person, the Holly Hunter starrer Strange Weather, Ewen McGregor’s directorial debut American Pastoral and, talking of Ewen McGregor, the new movie from Beginners director Mike Mills, 20th Century Women. These titles, and others, certainly back up the premise of the festival’s tag line, ‘The Freshest Films From The US Festival Circuit.’ Now in its second year, it looks as if this event has become a permanent fixture on the busy film festival circuit and that’s something to be welcomed. You can catch screenings across Australia at Palace Cinema venues. // SALT

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THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE

“KER-POW!”
DIRECTOR: Chris Mackay
PG / 104 minutes
Opens March 30, 2017

Not a sequel but another feature length advert from within the Lego-verse where Batman learns the value of company. As action driven as its predecessor, what it lacks is subtlety. Granted that’s a shade of grey in terms of the genre, The Lego Movie was hardly a masterclass in Zen. Yet the former excelled in the art of pacing, where The Lego Batman Movie excels in the art of shrieking. Here’s a joke, it seems to say, BAM! Here’s another one, BIFF! Amid the onslaught, there’s precious little time to appreciate either the joke, or its context. Comedy is all about background and timing, right? And there’s plenty of background that LBM mines, all the way through Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton and back to the super-camp TV series then further to the earnest serials of the 40’s and 50’s – all of which get their moment in the glaring technicolour light of homage. Once again, the over-arching theme is family – a Batman standard – and his need to resolve the loneliness in his life, whether he wants to or not. Enter The Joker, Robin, Superman and a raft of others who are determined to make Batman understand that he completes them: isolation is not an option. It’s cute, and often funny and would be funnier still if not for Chris Mackay’s relentlessness direction: colour, light, movement, shiny things, more shiny things, more colour, more movement. It’s oft said that kids today have no attention span, but why Mackay indulges them to this degree is fathomless as he amps the overload to eleven and beyond. The Lego Batman Movie is not without its moments, but they’re hard to spot when your senses are being bludgeoned by a shrill, shiny, plastic army intent on primary coloured mayhem. KER-POW!. // COLIN FRASER

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LIFE

“A nasty sting in its tale”
DIRECTOR: Daniel Espinosa
MA15+ / 103 minutes
Opens March 23, 2017

From early in the film, as Seamus McGarvey’s eerie cinematography follows Ryan Reynolds floating outside the International Space Station directing a robotic arm to capture a passing probe carrying samples from Mars, you can feel the horror waiting to erupt in Life. “Yes,” the six crew members cry as he succeeds in catching it, but “nooo” you inwardly shout because you just know the probe is going to bring bad news to the ISS and its inhabitants… very bad news. The probe is carrying an inert single-cell extraterrestrial which is quickly placed in quarantine. This example of life beyond earth is given a name, Calvin, by a kid on earth whose school won a competition to name the life-form. Altering the atmosphere in which Calvin is kept brings it back to life and it soon starts to replicate its cells, which simultaneously hold the attributes of both muscle and brain, a description that’s enough to make the hairs rise on the back of your neck. The multinational crew, headed by Russian team leader Ekaterina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya), includes a pair of Americans, ex-military guy David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), who prefers life in space compared to the ‘evil’ back on earth, and technician Rory Adams (Reynolds), the joker in the pack, a couple of Brits, Hugh Derry (Anyon Bakare), a paraplegic scientist, and Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), the team doctor, and from Japan Sho Murakami (Hiroyuki Sanada), whose wife gives birth back on earth while he’s in space. As the extraterrestrial organism develops it becomes a force to be reckoned with and, of course, one by one the astronauts begin to be eliminated. Sound familiar?
The action takes place mostly in the interior of the spacecraft and the weightlessness on show as the crew go about their work and attempt to escape from Calvin is astounding, a credit to the Visual Effects team. A resounding soundtrack by John Ekstrand adds to the tension and as the creature grows, so does the threat implied by the score. Rhett Reese’s and Paul Wernick’s script has been criticised in some quarters as being too derivative of Ridley Scott’s Alien but, hey, this story has been around since the birth of cinema. How many films have been made wherein a group of people trapped in a contained environment (a hurtling train, a haunted house, an abandoned castle, et al) start getting picked off one by one? The list is very, very long. Lovers of sci-fi shouldn’t be disappointed by Life even if it isn’t entirely original; it still manages to have a nasty sting in its tale. // SALT

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THE EAGLE HUNTRESS

“A beautifully crafted documentary”
DIRECTOR: Otto Bell
G / 87 minutes
Opens March 16, 2017

In the far reaches of Mongolia, a teenage girl has her sights set on learning the ancient art of hunting with an eagle, with a bird of her own choosing. The problem is that in the heavily patriarchal society, hunting is for boys. The local elders don’t take kindly to her modern notions, nor those of her family who support the girl in her quest to be an eagle huntress, the first of her kind. What follows is an often fascinating documentary in which Aisholpan learns from her father all there is to know about ‘borrowing’ an eagle (they’re set free after a few years of service), then training it as a hunter. Together they plan to take on the old guard at the annual show – a Mongolian rodeo for eagle hunters – and the results are surprising. Although it seems a natural end to the doco, Otto Bell’s film goes on to culminate with the near sacred ritual of hunting in the wild, when daughter and father head into the frozen mountains in search of prey. The Eagle Huntress is a beautifully crafted documentary that rides on the back of some truly astounding camera work (although I imagine it’s difficult to point a camera anywhere in Mongolia and not enjoy breathtaking results). Yet given the narrative construct (how did Bell know the girl’s story would prove unique?), it’s hard not to feel contrivance, or reconstruction at best. As churlish as this sounds, the feeling is exacerbated by the ghost of old Disney nature films which lurk in every corner with a thick blanket of ‘niceness’, one that begins to overwhelm the bonhomie native to Aishoolpan’s story. Daisy Ridley’s unnecessary narration doesn’t help. However, there’s also something to be said for ‘nice’ in an increasingly harsh world, and the ever-beaming Aisholpan has much to teach us all about the society in which we live from one as far, and as remote, as her own. That, and the truly astounding camera work, makes The Eagle Huntress a worthwhile entertainment. // COLIN FRASER

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BEFORE I FALL

“Thought-provoking”
DIRECTOR: Ry Russo-Young
M / 98 minutes
Opens March 16, 2017

Based on a similar plot device to Harold Ramis’ 1993 cult film Groundhog Day, Ry Russo-Young gives the tale a contemporary twist in her film Before I Fall; the difference is that this version covers teen angst rather than mid-life crisis and that may make an older audience avoid it. This just goes to show that you should never judge a film by its target demographic because, although it focuses on adolescents, the film succeeds in covering issues that are relevant to many. The story centres on a group of high school girlfriends who are preparing for a ‘rage’ where one of them plans to lose her virginity - hey, it’s Valentine’s Day after all! Each one is disengaged from the real world, totally bound up by their group dynamic, and showing little compassion for others on the outside, which presents a dilemma for the audience. It’s hard to engage with the little brats, caught up as they are in their hormonal domain. However, Russo-Young makes it work through the redemption of her main character, Sam (Zoey Deutsch), who begins to realise that February 12th is repeating on her, literally. She spends a fraught week trying to untangle the mystery and endeavouring to make each iteration of the day more meaningful by improving the lot of those around her. One of her main concerns is the fact that she and her gal pals are guilty of bullying another student, Juliet (Elena Kampouris), who’s picked on because she’s ‘different’ and who emerges as crucial to the events. Set in a wintery environment in the Pacific North-West, Before I Fall will appeal to the niche market it is geared for but could be enjoyed by a broader demographic as well. If not original at least it’s thought-provoking. Deutch gives a fine performance as the millennial who changes from selfish teen to a young woman with principles over the course of a day… well, a number of days. That’s pretty good going for a film that’s only 98 minutes long yet covers a lifetime. // SALT

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A FEW LESS MEN

“Joke’s on us”
DIRECTOR: Mark Lamprell
MA15+ / 92 minutes
Opens March 9, 2017

Sometimes less is more and the less said about Mark Lamprell’s A Few Less Men, the better. This sequel to Stephan Elliot’s A Few Best Men carries on where its predecessor left off and succeeds in falling further into the abyss of smutty, cringe-worthy nonsense created in the first effort. Why anyone would let screenwriter Dean Craig, who was responsible for A Few Best Men’s script, near another version of the same thing is a mystery to many. One can only assume that the bucks from ancillary outlets made it worth it because I don’t remember Best making it big at the box office. The one thing redeeming it is its locations and Steve Arnold’s cinematography. What adds to the mystery is the fact that some very good Aussie actors like Sacha Horler, Deborah Mailman, Shane Jacobson, Jeremy Sims and Lynette Curran came on board. Maybe they all wanted a trip to WA? Who knows? One must assume they had fun making A Few Less Men but, regrettably, the joke is on us! // SALT

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MISS SLOANE

“Overwrought”
DIRECTOR: John Madden
M / 132 minutes
Opens March 2, 2017

Erin Brokovich meets House Of Cards by way of any Aaron Sorkin talkfest you care to mention. We’re in political thriller territory with costumes so sharp you could slice tomatoes on them. I only mention that to underline how realistically unrealistic (or is it unrealistically realistic?) this all gets – it’s a crazy story from a crazy world that’s so crazy, it could almost be true. Pretty much like any Aaron Sorkin talkfest you care to mention. Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain in ultra-offensive, “Don’t mess with me, I’m on Benzie’s” mode) is a lobbyist in Washington who gets seduced to the dark side when offered a chance to shoot down the gun lobby’s latest attempt to stall changes to ownership law. ‘Dark side’? For her opponents, hand-wringing liberals are a dark force; not that she cares about the cause, she only cares about the result – Sloane is there to win. Or so you’re given to think, but you know there’s a twist coming, it’s that kind of story. For all the blind alleys and narrative cul-de-sacs, in the end it doesn’t make a whit of difference if you can (or can’t) follow the story. Like an Aaron Sorkin talkfest, this goes thick and fast while you’re whizzed around Washington on Miss Sloane’s super-sharp coat-tails. What matters is whether Chastain convinces you that Elizabeth is what she appears to be and it’s here that Miss Sloane is an overwrought misfire. For all her character’s ranting and raving and bullish carry-on, there’s a hollowness that eats at credibility, and doesn’t carry you along. Miss Sloane is no Erin Brokovich, she’s far too cold for that, and a one-two ‘betcha didn’t see that coming’ ending doesn’t distract from feeling slightly cheated by her, and her story. // COLIN FRASER

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A STREET CAT
NAMED BOB

“Puuuuuuuurfect”
DIRECTOR: Roger Spottiswoode
PG / 103 minutes
Opens February 9, 2017

A Street Cat Named Bob has been given a PG rating in Australia so there’s no excuse for this real-life drama not to be compulsory viewing for young people susceptible to the lure of heroin, whether it be in a city in the Land of Oz or, as in this case, in London. Based on a true story, Roger Spottiswoode’s feature is a real charmer, despite its tough setting. When recovering heroin addict James (Luke Treadaway) meets a ginger tomcat (the real Bob plus other look-alikes) on the street they buddy up for mutual support. A busker, James is desperately trying to kick his habit with the positive assistance of his case manager Val (Joanne Froggatt); he’s on the methadone program and manages to get assisted accommodation and a job selling The Big Issue. Into the picture comes beautiful neighbour Betty (Ruta Gedmintas), who’s very hippy but not trippy (her brother’s another victim of drugs), and James appears to be getting his life back on track at last but, of course, the story doesn’t end there. Kicking addiction is no easy ride; as Mark Twain once said, habit can’t be thrown out the window, it has to be coaxed down the stairs. In these 103 minutes of desperate yet life-affirming reality, Peter Wunstorf’s camera takes us on the number 38 bus through the streets of London, busking with James in Covent Garden while exposing the terrible reality of homelessness and addiction. A Street Cat Named Bob is one of the better films dealing with drug dependence and it delivers a positive message of hope and recovery. Bob excels himself and should get double billing with Treadaway. Look out for the scene where he’s sitting by the coin case while James is busking; every time someone drops a donation the cat looks up and nods, as if to say thank you. His reaction is simply adorable and, pardon me, puuuuuuurfect. Little wonder the real-life James and Bob became internet celebrities, attracting a London literary agent, which led to a book that sat on the top of The Sunday Times’ best seller list for 76 weeks. // SALT

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TONI ERDMANN

“Zany and heart warming”
DIRECTOR: Maren Ade
M / 162 minutes
Opens February 9, 2017

This quirky, thoroughly original comedy/drama from German director Maren Ade portrays a father-daughter relationship like no other you’ve seen. Winfried Conradi (Peter Simonischek) is feeling bereft after the loss of his longtime four-legged companion and the demise of his job as a music teacher, so he sets off on a surprise visit to his estranged daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller) in Bucharest, where she’s busily climbing the company ladder in her role as a corporate strategist. It’s quickly evident that the very serious Ines can’t take on the emotional baggage that arrives with her practical joker father so, after a few tense days together, Winfried prepares to return to Germany. However, later that night when Ines is at a bar with colleagues, he turns up in a disguise replete with an unkempt wig and set of molars that would have sat more comfortably in a horror movie and introduces himself as Toni Erdmann, life coach. Faced with no other choice, Ines goes along with the charade out of sheer embarrassment but you also get the feeling that some part of her wants to participate in this risky, weird deception. Hers is a sterile, controlled world so her father’s anarchism is slyly welcome. It’s a bizarre plot device but it works well in one of the most stimulating scripts we’ve seen for some time and it artfully comments on the emptiness at the heart of globalism. Director Ade’s screenplay is long but never less than intriguing - in a world of predictable stories this one will keep you guessing till the end. Both Hüller and Simonischeck work brilliantly together; as father and daughter they constantly push and grate against each other, yet in some strange way this friction serves to bring them closer together and the film’s dead-pan denouement is gratifyingly cathartic. No surprise then that Toni Erdmann won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and is a contender for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards this year. It is both zany and heart-warming and shouldn’t be missed, especially if you prefer a film to challenge you rather than just wash over you. // SALT

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GOLD

“Flawed”
DIRECTOR: Stephen Gaghan
M / 121 minutes
Opens February 2, 2017

Matthew McConaughey is a chameleon, let’s face it, having proved it in films like Magic Mike, Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wall Street; plus, he plays ‘bad boys’ real good. In Stephen Gaghan’s Gold, he demonstrates it once again. Here he has created a character who’s both charismatic and thoroughly unlikeable and in doing so he’s shown he’s not afraid of going the whole nine yards - to create his role of Kenny Wells, a down-on-his-luck prospector, McConaughey stacked on an extra 20 kilos (from a diet of cheeseburgers, milkshakes and beer!), lost most of his curly locks and added some unfortunate dental work. When Wells teams up with visionary geologist Michael Costa (Edgar Ramirez) in a last ditch attempt to discover gold, the journey takes him from the desiccated deserts of Nevada to the uncharted jungles of Borneo and the boardrooms of Wall Street. Loosely based on the Bre-X mining scandal of the 1990s, Gold is a rapid-paced, pumped-up adventure that keeps you engaged as it rockets along like a roller-coaster on speed, a bit like the fast-talking Wells himself. It makes for uncomfortable viewing at times and the almost too over-the-top persona projected by McConaughey can detract from the reality of the situation; it verges on the comic at times - scene after scene of McConaughey in his white Y-fronts soaked with sweat and jungle humidity might have some scrambling for the exits! There’s a sense of deja vu too, in that this is another valiant attempt to expose the bitter results of greed and folly but it’s not Gaghan’s (Syriana, Traffic) best work, nor McConaughey’s. Gold won’t garner any awards but it’s still worth 120 minutes of your time to watch a brilliant actor at work, even if it’s slightly flawed work. Overall, as McConaughey contends, “The story for me is really about what a man like Kenny Wells will do to keep his dreams alive. How far will he go? And he will go all the way.” A bit like McConaughey himself, it seems. // SALT

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SPLIT

“Doesn’t really deliver”
DIRECTOR: M. Night Shyamalan
M / 117 minutes
Opens January 26, 2017

Director M. Night Shyamalan’s 1999 film The Sixth Sense had the mental state of its protagonist as its central plot theme; now, he’s once again brought us a psychological horror story, Split, whose main character suffers from the twists and turns of his mind - in this case, twenty-three different states of being. In possibly the most complex role of his career, James McAvoy moves from being a person with an obsessive-compulsive disorder, to a woman not unlike Norman Bates’s mother in Hitchcock’s Psycho, to a nine-year-old child, to a gay fashion designer and back again; in short, a number of characters who all have very different personalities, one of whom kidnaps three young girls in a carpark in broad daylight and imprisons them in a dungeon. The girls are terrorised by his dissociative identity disorder and try desperately to escape, as you would, but as usually happens in these situations, only one of them has the strength to deal with their tormentor… or should I say tormentors? Unfortunately this time around, despite McAvoy’s valiant attempt to play each role, which involves not only numerous costume changes but also voice changes (which he does remarkably well), the rest of the film is rather tedious. Although a plot device suggests that Split is a sequel of some kind to Shyamalan’s Unbreakable, it doesn’t really deliver. The film fails to hold up to the original ideas that Shyamalan so often devises. As in a number of his previous films, the promise is more than the premise. // SALT

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LIVE BY NIGHT

“Superior drama”
DIRECTOR: Ben Affleck
MA15+ / 129 minutes
Opens January 26, 2017

Like him or loathe him as an actor, you’ve got to admit that Ben Affleck has proven his chops as a writer/director. From when he first burst on the scene as a writer in 1997 with Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with Matt Damon, to his subsequent directorial efforts Gone Baby Gone, The Town and Argo, two of which he co-scripted, he has shown himself to be a creator of superior dramas. Now, with Live By Night, he’s done it again. Working once more from a novel by Denis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone), he wrote, directed and acted in this impressive gangster movie about a returned serviceman with an anti-authoritarian chip on his shoulder. Coming home to Boston after the rigours of WWI, Joe Coughlin (Affleck) resolves never to take orders from another man and takes to a life of crime. He’s a crook but a crook with principles! When his affair with the girlfriend (Sienna Miller) of leading mobster Albert White (Robert Glenister) brings him undone, Joe heads south to Ybor City, Tampa, Florida. Recruited by mob boss Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone) to run his bootleg liquor business there (this is the time of Prohibition), he becomes a leading crime figure and an important man in the community. His success, however, brings him into conflict not only with the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan but also with his old nemesis Albert White, a situation that must be resolved… by any means. Where Live By Night falls down is that it appears somewhat derivative, leaving you with the impression that you’ve seen it all before – or something like it. This is a solid movie with an excellent cast but, regrettably, it’s not the great movie that it could have been. // IAN TAYLOR

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xXx: RETURN OF
XANDER CAGE

“Rollicking”
DIRECTOR: David Caruso
M / 107 minutes
Opens January 19, 2017

The soon-to-turn-50 actor Vin Diesel has blasted back on screen reprising his role as the heavily tattooed extreme athlete Xander Cage, who was presumed dead after his misadventures in 2002’s xXx. Using a multicultural cast that will appeal to audiences across the globe, particularly the ever-expanding Chinese market, xXx : Return Of Xander Cage is a high octane, thrilling visual extravaganza that sets up a rollicking pace from the get-go and rarely lets up till the final credits. Recruited by NSA operative Jane Marke (Toni Collette) to recover a powerful weapon called Pandora’s Box that can weaponise satellites by directing them towards Earth, Xander teams up with a bunch of thrill-seeking bad asses from around the world that ultimately includes one of India’s female superstars Deepika Padukone, Chinese actors Donnie Yen and Kris Wu, Thailand’s Tony Jaa and our very own Ruby Rose. Using the most amazing stunts (including a spectacular motorbike ride on skis through a surf ‘tube’) backed up by a thumping hip-hop soundtrack, the over-the-top spectacle is like James Bond for the ‘burbs. The script is as corny as hell, with lines like, “There are no more patriots, just rebels and tyrants,” but they’re delivered with a knowing wink; no-one thinks they’re creating great art here. Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) gives the game away when he says all they have to do is, “Kick some ass, get the girl, and try to look dope while you’re doing it!” Oh yes, there’s much to chuckle over here and you can’t help but feel that it’s Diesel who gets the last laugh, for the word is there’s already another xXx on the slate. The BBC’s review of xXx: State of the Union said, "Viewed on its own trashy terms, it succeeds brilliantly" and that applies in equal measure to this one. // SALT

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ASSASSIN’S CREED

“Faint praise”
DIRECTOR: Justin Kurzel
M / 115 minutes
Opens January 1, 2017

How did it come to this? How does a brilliant director like Justin Kurzel, whose debut effort was the disturbing Snowtown and whose sophomore film was the equally impressive Macbeth, go on to direct this preposterous nonsense? Perhaps money is the answer, as it so often is. No doubt the original Assassin’s Creed video game is fun but that’s probably because you’re immersed within it – it’s a different beast altogether when you’re on the outside looking in. Admittedly, Kurzel does as good a job as he can, given the out there, hard-to-follow (let alone believe) script, and he’s helped a lot by fellow Aussies Adam Arkapaw (cinematographer), brother Jed Kurzel (music) and some whizz-bang SFX but, nonetheless, it’s a long two hours in the cinema. Michael Fassbender plays the dual role of modern-day murderer Callum Lynch and his 15th century ancestor Aguilar, a member of the Assassins, a secretive network at war with the Knights Templar. When Cal is saved from the death penalty by the mysterious Sophia (Marion Cotillard), who works for the shadowy Abstergo Industries run by her father Alan Rikkin (Jeremy Irons), he soon learns that he wasn’t rescued out of the goodness of their hearts. He finds instead that he’s to be a guinea pig in the Animus Project and his DNA will be used to send him back to the Spanish Inquisition to find the Apple of Eden, which has the power to rid the world of violence. Told you it was out there. As game-to-movie transformations go, this isn’t the worst and if that’s damning Assassin’s Creed with faint praise, it’s really all you can say about it. // IAN TAYLOR

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PASSENGERS

“Intriguing”
DIRECTOR: Morten Tyldum
M / 116 minutes
Opens January 1, 2017

Norwegian director Morten Tyldum might’ve been better served if he’d used the services of screenwriter Graham Moore again, who wrote his Oscar-winning effort The Imitation Game, rather than Jon Spaihts, who scripted Passengers, his latest release. Granted, Spaihts has good ideas (cf. Prometheus, Doctor Strange) but his dialogue-writing skills need improvement. Some of the lines Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt have to deliver here test even their formidable skills… and the audience’s. The two actors play author Aurora Lane and engineer Jim Preston, passengers on a 120-year flight to a new home planet deep in space. They have been placed in a state of suspended animation to last the trip but a malfunction wakes Chris up too soon - 90 years too soon, in fact, and try as he might he can’t get back to sleep! What’s a red-blooded bloke to do, with all that testosterone and only a cyborg bartender (Michael Sheen) to keep him company? That’s the moral question at the heart of this sci-fi adventure and it’s an interesting one. Unfortunately the conundrum’s not dealt with sufficiently deeply before Passengers morphs into your standard ‘will they or won’t they survive’ scenario. It’s a shame because the film looks great and the production design is intriguing but the script could’ve been so much Moore. // IAN TAYLOR

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WHY HIM?

“Easily forgettable”
DIRECTOR: John Hamburg
MA15+ / 111 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016

If gross-out humour is your thing, then Why Him? ticks all the boxes. Directed by John Hamburg, the writer of the Zoolander and Focker franchises, there are enough cringe-making moments in this script to make it fit squarely into that specific comedy genre. And not since he played ‘Alien’ in Spring Breakers have we been treated to so much bare-chested screen time from James Franco, replete with heavily tattooed torso and low-cut jeans! Laird Mayhew, a Silicon Valley multi-millionaire played by Franco, is besotted with his girlfriend Stephanie Fleming (Zoey Deutch). When Stephanie is skyping home to wish her father Ned (Bryan Cranston) a happy 55th birthday, and Laird appears in the background removing said jeans (get the picture!), you know that an imminent visit from the family to see their daughter at Stanford Uni. will not go well… especially when Laird insists the Flemings stay at his mansion. The film deals with relationships both intimate and familial, particularly the rivalry between the two men vying for Stephanie’s affection when Ned realises that Laird is about to pop the question to his beloved daughter. Cranston and Franco are both great at these kinds of roles and it’s a treat to see them together here. There’s a bit to like in Why Him? even if it’s slight and easily forgettable… although it’s difficult to forget an appearance by veteran rockers Kiss in one of the movie’s more bizarre moments. The whole concoction provides a momentary escape during the festive season, if only to be in the presence of Mr. Franco’s attributes for 111 minutes! // SALT

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ROSALIE BLUM

“Feel good French farce”
DIRECTOR: Julien Rappeneau
M / 96 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016

Rosalie Blum is a feel-good French farce with enough twists and turns to keep you surprised as it explores its themes of love and compassion. Vincent Machot (Kyan Khojandi) is a hairdresser in a provincial town whose overbearing mother Simone (Anémone) lives in the flat above his. He’s a bit of a loser whose girlfriend has moved to Paris and keeps putting off his planned visits to see her. You get the picture. One day, after a random encounter, he becomes obsessed with a woman called Rosalie Blum (Noémie Lvovsky), who runs a neighbourhood grocery store, and starts to stalk her. But Rosalie is not the run-down, beaten woman she appears to be. She has a plan of her own. Featuring wonderful performances in all the key roles, this portrayal of life in a regional French city is the most successful film exhibited at the Alliance Française French Film Festival in 27 years and is Julien Rappeneau’s directorial debut. Based on Rosalie Blum I can’t wait to see what he does next! // SALT

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RED DOG: TRUE BLUE

“Won’t have the legs”
DIRECTOR: Kriv Stenders
PG / 88 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016

After the success of Red Dog in 2011, Kriv Stenders has followed up with this much anticipated sequel, Red Dog:True Blue. Well, prequel really - due to Red Dog’s demise in the first film, he’s had to go back in time with this one, so we learn about the adorable Red Cloud Kelpie’s life before he went ‘on the road’ in Red Dog. Found sheltering in a tree after a flash flood, the pup is adopted by young city-slicker Mick (Levi Miller), much to the chagrin of his station-owning Grandpa (Bryan Brown). Striving to be an iconic Aussie story, set in the outback and based around the relationship between a dog and his master, there are moments when the audience will be absorbed by the cute storyline but, as so often happens, the sequel doesn’t quite match up to its predecessor. It’s a series of vignettes lacking a solid narrative thread. It’ll probably do well at the box office as it’s perfectly timed to release over the family holiday period but it won’t have the legs to carry it further, to become the legend that it so desperately wants to be. // SALT

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PATERSON

“Master of cool”
DIRECTOR: Jim Jarmusch
M / 118 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016

Paterson (Adam Driver) is a poetry writing bus driver who sticks to a rigid daily routine that includes straightening up his letterbox every day when he arrives home from work and going to the pub for one beer every night, leaving his dog Nellie (in her scene-stealing debut performance) tethered outside. Life seems pretty mundane in Paterson, New Jersey, which is also the lead character’s name. He lives with his adoring wife Laura (Golshifteh Farahani), who’s obsessed with decorating their home and her clothing with black and white designs. The couple has a very loving relationship which simmers along nicely but does this quiet observation of the ups and downs of everyday life hide a level of anxiety beneath its surface? Or is Paterson (the bus driver not the town) recovering from the effects of his wartime service in the Middle East? Does he represent those US American soldiers who return from war and desperately try to fit back into a society that cannot relate to their experiences? You’ll need to read between the lines of Paterson’s poetry to discover what lies beneath. Paterson is a gem and one of the best films released over the holiday season. All hail writer/director Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive), the master of ‘cool’. // SALT

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ALLIED

“Something missing”
DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis
M / 124 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016

In a deviation from his previous comedic themes, Robert Zemeckis (the Back to the Future trilogy) has directed Allied, an action-packed World War II drama that keeps its audience guessing ‘til the final curtain. Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) is a member of the Canadian Air Force who parachutes into the desert near Casablanca, Morocco, where he teams up with the very beautiful French Resistance agent, Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) and together they set out to assassinate the German ambassador. After the fireworks, they escape to London where, apparently having fallen in love, they set up house together but things aren’t quite as they seem and the British Secret Service starts asking questions about their relationship. Soon Vatan finds himself caught up in a situation that is both confusing and heartbreaking. As the plot thickens the ensuing drama will have you gripped… well, it should have - somehow the film lacks the emotional engagement you’d expect from such fine leading players. Although Cotillard and Pitt work well together there is something missing. Maybe Allied’s heart was left on the cutting room floor. // SALT

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THE LEGEND
OF BEN HALL

“Lacks passion”
DIRECTOR: Matthew Holmes
M / 139 minutes
Opens December 1, 2016

Likened to the legendary American outlaw Jesse James, Ben Hall was a notorious Australian bushranger who, along with his gang, wreaked havoc on the outback highways and byways of NSW in the 1860s. Matthew Holmes’s second feature film, The Legend Of Ben Hall, is an ambitious attempt to follow the last nine months of Hall’s life on the run and is considered an accurate portrayal of the period, revealing the relationships he endeavoured to maintain under extremely harsh circumstances. It is also a film about betrayal. We meet the very watchable Jack Martin (making his feature film debut here) as Hall just when he’s setting up his own gang, having parted ways with the infamous bushranger Frank Gardiner. He teams up with old friend John Gilbert (Jamie Coffa) and they set out to rob coaches transporting passengers and cash between rural towns. Soon they also enlist the help of a ‘novice’, John Dunn (William Lee), creating a formidable trio who are both feared and revered by different sections of the bush community. But the hold-ups also reveal the true nature of the highwaymen - while Hall is keen not to get blood on his hands, Gilbert is manic and full of bluster and bravado, and Dunn is insecure and nervous. It’s a volatile combination. Hall is obsessed with the welfare of his son Henry and kidnaps him from his estranged wife ‘Biddy’ (Joanne Dobbin), who’s left Hall for another man. It’s not too long, however, before young Henry is returned to the bosom of his mother and it’s during this period that the violence escalated. The slaughter of two policemen during two separate robberies provoked the NSW Government to pass a law declaring the gang as ‘outlaws’ and therefore liable to be shot on sight, by anyone at any time, so Hall makes plans to flee the country. Holmes’s screenplay reveals an emotional side to Hall, encouraging the audience to feel some empathy for the man, but somehow the script lacks the passion it needed to convey the full force of this yarn. The battle scenes are quite graphic, the production design is particularly strong, and the action is supported by a fine score. Both Martin and Lee give solid performances but Coffa’s weird characterization of Gilbert is almost farcical at times. There’s quite a lot to like here but a harsh edit would have benefitted The Legend Of Ben Hall considerably. As it stands it feels like a curious throwback to the 10BA films of the 1970s. // SALT

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THE FENCER

“Powerful, moving”
DIRECTOR: Klaus Härö
PG / 99 minutes
Opens November 24, 2016

Set in Estonia in 1953, this beautifully crafted film examines the life and morals of a man on the run. Endel (Märt Avandi) has fled Leningrad to take up the post of sports teacher at a school in remote Haapslu, Estonia, and is keeping a low profile trying to avoid Stalin’s secret police who want him for his wartime service with Germany, service he was forced to provide. He is a mild-mannered, principled man and it is these principles which will determine his future. Before the war Endel was a skilled swordsman so, because the school’s sports department is ill-equipped, he starts a fencing club for his students using twigs cut from the surrounding forest. Through this teaching he is able to impart values to the children that he hopes will also prepare them for adult life, but his enthusiasm and rapport with the students makes the school principal wary of the newcomer and he begins to suspect that Endel is not who he says he is (this is a time in Estonian history when people were pitted against each other as a direct result of their actions when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany). When the students hear about a forthcoming fencing competition in Leningrad, they implore their teacher to enter their team as they are finally engaged in something that gives them hope. Thus, Endel has to decide whether to risk everything and take the children to Leningrad or put his wellbeing first and disappoint them. Klaus Härö’s direction of this remarkable true story is a wonderful piece of cinema. The actors are all excellent, especially the children, who are thoroughly convincing, portraying a group of kids who were, in many cases, orphaned during the war. The Fencer is a powerful, moving story about the importance of staying true to your beliefs whatever the cost. // SALT

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MORGAN

“Profound indeed”
DIRECTOR: Luke Scott
MA15+ / 93 minutes
Opens November 17, 2016

In a similar vein to last year’s Ex-Machina, this directorial debut feature from Luke Scott, the son of the great Ridley, delves into a future when humankind is tinkering with bio-engineering. When Lee Weathers (Kate Mara - 127 Hours / House Of Cards), a corporate risk manager, turns up at an isolated facility to assess the behavioural ‘errors’ exhibited by an artificially created humanoid, Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy), she finds that many of the doctors and staff (a rather stellar cast that includes Toby Jones, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Giamatti and Michelle Yeoh) are somewhat conflicted about their charge’s aberrant behaviour. We learn that it is their hope that Morgan will be a symbol of ‘peace and synthetic existence’ but recently she’s had a little freak out, one with far from peaceful consequences. From the opening credits we are taken on a cerebral mystery/sci-fi journey with a rising body count and many references to films of the same genre but with an enigma at its heart. This is a film that grabs you from the get-go while at times making you squirm in your seat. The allusion to Sir John Everett Millais’ famous painting of Ophelia, in the film’s final moments, leaves you wondering if Scott’s and scriptwriter Owen’s subtext is about the waste of potential life. As Victor Frankenstein learnt, when you play God you’ve got to be careful because sometimes your creations don’t want to play with you, and even if they do, they may play a little rough! Profound indeed. // SALT

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THE THREEPENNY OPERA

“Filthy…and immoral”
DIRECTOR: Rufus Norris
CTC / 180 minutes
Opens November 12, 2016

Once again the National Theatre Live brings a fabulous adaptation of 20th century musical theatre to the big screen with this recent production of The Threepenny Opera. It is directed by Rufus Norris (Broken) and conceived by Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), who has successfully created a dark, comic version of Brecht’s book and lyrics that zips along, accompanied by Kurt Weill’s complex, original score. It is set in London, where the masses are preparing for the coronation. We are in the shadow of the beast, for the play concentrates on the underbelly of English society, namely the whores, beggars and thieves who make their living on the streets. The main character is the amoral Macheath aka ‘Mack the Knife’ (Rory Kinnear – Hamlet / Spectre), a gang leader totally immersed and thriving in this den of iniquity. He loves the outlaw life and cannot bring himself to leave it, even when all is threatened, as it is after he ‘marries’ Polly Peacham (Rosalie Craig – As You Like It), whose cross-dressing father (Nick Holder) controls the city’s beggars and who is not happy with the union, not happy at all. It turns out that Macheath is a bit of a philanderer and he’s using Polly for her accounting skills to manage his ill-gotten gains. The ensuing drama brings to light all the injustices perpetuated on the down-trodden and questions the morality of those who are more fortunate, asking what indeed are the ‘better’ principles in life. The leads are uniformly excellent but Kinnear’s performance in particular needs special praise – his Mack manages to be loathsome and appealing at one and the same time, a neat trick. The very talented ensemble plays a diverse collection of rumbustious whores, bent cops and prison guards, a variety of thieves and includes a well-cast young disabled actor, Jamie Beddard, who gives a terrific performance as gang member Matthias aka ‘The Shadow’. The set provides a suitably sleazy background for “a cheap opera… a threepenny opera”. Furthermore, the musical contains filthy language and immoral behaviour and what could be more entertaining than that? This is a great romp on the dark side of life, one that seems fittingly apposite for these dark times. // SALT

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CAFÉ SOCIETY

“Humourless”
DIRECTOR: Woody Allen
M / 96 minutes
Opens October 20, 2016

Woody Allen’s twin-loves coalesce in this beautifully shot, yet thoroughly insubstantial story of Hollywood’s golden age. Soaked in nostalgia, jazz music and languorous sunsets, Café Society makes the point that most of life is a distraction from the importance of living, and where better to make that point than in the ultimate distraction, Hollywood? Unfortunately it’s a point made so swiftly that it renders most of Allen’s film little more than a beautifully shot but pointless distraction from the business of living. Cruel irony. In the middle of this wispy story is Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg), a new kid in town working for his influential Uncle Phil (Steve Carell). Bobby falls for Phil’s assistant Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) who, in further cruel irony, falls for Phil. As hearts break and events take shape, Allen finds room for a few jokes, though these mostly occur on very familiar turf with Bobby’s hysterical Jewish family. Same old same old. By and large, this is a fairly uninteresting story that presents more like a first draft than fully fledged feature. When pinned to underwhelming performances and a commitment to style that paralyses the production in a way no amount of luminescent cinematography can save, Café Society underscores the belief that Woody should take a break and take his time. Do we really need an Allen film every year? Not if this is the result. // COLIN FRASER

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JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK

“Crushing bore”
DIRECTOR: Edward Zwick
M / 118 minutes
Opens October 20, 2016

Jack Reacher has a back story. We know this from shortly after the opening credits where the ‘loner’, having just busted arse for the government, thumbs a ride to nowhere. He does it again at the end of the movie. Yet nowhere in this crushing bore of an 80’s style high-concept adventure yarn does it become clear what that story might be, and why he can ‘never go back’. Why is he ex-military, where is he going, why doesn’t he own a car? Presumably fans of the novels, or the previous movie, already know. Newcomers? You’re on your own. This time around, Reacher is pulled back into the military in order to arrest him for daring to uncover some nefarious wrong-doings that involve weapons, Afghanistan and murky government contractors. People get beaten up, others die and in the middle of the mayhem is Reacher trying to help a former colleague implicated in the evil. Along the way they pick up a teenage girl who, according to a former junkie, is Reacher’s. Thus abandonment and father issues are spread across the plot in an attempt to give it some depth. Not that fans of the genre will care – this is about blowing sh*t up, something writer / director Edward Zwick is good at. A lot of things, and people, get broken. What he’s not good at doing is investing anything like depth, substance or humour into this by-the-numbers, long-winded narrative – in all regards Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the kind of Tom Cruise vehicle that gives Tom Cruise his reputation. // COLIN FRASER

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WHERE AM I GOING?

“Zesty”
DIRECTOR: Gennaro Nunziante
M / 89 minutes
Opens October 13, 2016

This Italian box-office smash plays big and loose in the comedic stakes as it sends up the age of entitlement with chilling accuracy. Checco has a government ‘job for life’ until a razor gang is sent in to clear out old wood in La Prima Republica. This is one of the film’s sharpest jokes as all but one of 40 odd people lined up for potential termination each hang on to their positions due extenuating circumstances. That one is Checco but he’s not going to take it lying down and an absurd fight with authority ensues, one that takes him to the North Pole, Norway, Africa and back as the government tries to get their man, and get their numbers. Co-writer and star Luca Medici gives the story to his celebrated character, a resistible big-mouthed slacker from the south. Love him and you’ll love Where Am I Going? which packs a lot of cultural bite in a zesty 90 minutes of broad farce. // COLIN FRASER

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JOE CINQUE’S CONSOLATION

“No consolation”
DIRECTOR: Sotiris Dounoukos
M / 102 minutes
Opens October 13, 2016

The story of Joe Cinque shocked Canberra when the young man was found dead, murdered by his girlfriend in a failed ‘suicide pact’. That he didn’t seem to know anything about a pact, or that his friends did, or that his girlfriend Anu Singh was enabled by her best friend Madhave Rao only made the story more tragic. Folded into a book by Helen Garner and now into this ‘based on true events’ first feature by Sotiris Dounoukos, a film perhaps more interesting for the narrative than the awkward execution. It’s clear from the outset that Singh is needy and Cinque stuck it out because he was a nice-guy. When Anu announces she’s going to kill herself (unknown to Joe), her friends rally round in support. When she decided to take Cinque with her as poorly justified payback for making her so miserable, they still rally around and even help her get the heroin with which she plans to OD. Before too long, Joe’s dead, Anu’s in jail and the film is over. The real story of why her friends behave as apathetically as they did, why she gets a reduced sentence, why Rao is acquitted and how the former student lawyer went on to practice in a law firm, events that utterly beggar belief, is left to post-credit speculation. Instead the film stays with Singh’s hysterics, Rao’s weird passivity and Cinque’s doe-eyed walk into the headlights. Build-up only gets you so far and this story’s juice, it’s emotional heart, lies in the aftermath, one we don’t get to witness. Poor Joe Cinque, and poor us who’ve been taken to the store window and left to wonder what lies inside. It’s no consolation. // COLIN FRASER

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THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

“Well…pointless”
DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua
M / 133 minutes
Opens September 29, 2016

If you’re going to remake a classic, you’ve got to bring something new to the table. Reinvent (per John Sturges who first dropped Kurosawa’s magnificent tale of warrior samurai into the wild west), reinterpret (an all girl version of Ghostbusters for instance) or, the riskiest, adapt (shoe-horning Shakespeare into a high-school romp a-la 10 Things I Hate About You). To go full-Psycho (Gus Van Sant) and simply recreate the original is, well, pointless. Sadly, that’s Antoine Fuqua’s chosen path as he brings seven ill-fitting Westerners to bear their goodly might upon bad forces holding a small town to ransom. If you’ve seen Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven, and even if you haven’t, there’s nothing here to surprise anyone. In fact, there’s precious little that’s especially entertaining as Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and pals take back the town amid a grisly body count of guys good and bad (few women or children were harmed in the melée). We start at the start, end at the end and along the way, it’s one hoof in front of the other as the inevitable takes shape and plays out, right down to ‘flaky person leaves gang and arrives back in a blaze of perfectly timed glory’. Sigh. In truth, Fuqua is a director more comfortable in the badlands of Brooklyn than the wild west, and he hasn’t made a striking pic since Training Day (2001). Which is not to say that his take on The Magnificent Seven is all bad (production is sold, camerawork fluid, performances are tangible); it’s simply not good. It’s certainly not magnificent, and if you’re going to tackle a film of this calibre, with this much social resonance, it needs to be. Given the most exhilarating moment of the film is for one minute when the orchestra strikes up Elmer Bernstein’s original theme, you know it’s become a pointless exercise. // COLIN FRASER

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MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

“Not in the least bit fresh”
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
PG / 127 minutes
Opens September 29, 2016

If ever there was a perfect title for a Tim Burton film, this is it. Adapting Ransom Rigg’s popular novel about a ‘normal’ boy who discovers all that resides in the title is an ideal match for the esoteric director. There’s an echo of Edward Scissorhands in a story that comes ready-made for Burton’s penchant for creepy monsters and dancing skeletons. It even has a slightly kooky, raven-haired mistress (with Eva Green standing in for Helena Bonham-Carter); all that’s missing is Johnny Depp. Actually, there’s a lot more missing but we’ll get to that. In 2016, a benign mad-man dies under mysterious circumstances. Teenage Jake (Asa Butterfield) thinks Grandpa wasn’t looney and ends up in a lost corner of Wales looking for answers. He gets them when he slips into a time-loop where it’s always 1942 and where Miss Peregrine is protecting children with peculiar gifts from hungry demons. What follows is not hard to imagine, and therein the problem with Burton’s film. None of this is in the least bit fresh – the monsters are borrowed from Pan’s Labyrinth, the dancing skeletons from his own closet, the visual design from every film Burton’s ever made. Compounding the problem is the laboured pacing and tired editing; watching the inevitable unfold is like wading through treacle. Hitting the home run is a surplus of under-written characters so lacking in grit that the boy’s love interest, a girl so full of air she has lead shoes to stop her floating away, becomes analogous with everything that’s wrong here. As a fellow viewer said, “everything about it is too light.” Lacking the dark, spooky heart and emotional punch of classic Burton, there’s nothing very peculiar about Miss Peregrine at all. // COLIN FRASER

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TICKLED

“Mandatory viewing”
DIRECTOR: David Farrier
MA15+ / 92 minutess
Opens August 18, 2016

No matter what you think, this documentary about Competitive Endurance Tickling is really not what you think. The problem with writing any review about Tickled is that to say anything, anything at all, is to give away too much. The less you know about this film, other than being tied to a table and tickled is apparently a ‘thing’, the better. For what distinguishes David Farrier’s riveting documentary is the way it twists and turns rather like one of the ‘sport’s’ competitors, and like being tickled, it’s hilarious until it’s not. Because once the laughs are over, Tickled heads to some dark, dark places. And that, oddly, is a compliment. Tickled kicks off in New Zealand where Farrier, a TV lifestyle reporter, stumbles upon Competitive Endurance Tickling while searching for his next story. And what a story this might be – young men in track clothing tickling each other for fun, or so it seems. He makes some innocent enquiries and the obnoxious replies peak his reporter’s instinct. With camera at hand, Farrier heads off to LA, ground zero for CET and its network of tickle-cells. Firmly on Louis Theroux territory, right? Well, yes, until it’s not. For, as partially-disclosed above, Tickled goes way beyond the weird and wonderful to traverse the dark and distressing corners of human behaviour. It’s jaw-dropping, actually, what happens to both Farrier and the tickle kids. Not only a bold investigation which is highly engaging in itself, Tickled also provokes a bold discussion about the menace of online bullying, trolling and the horrifying consequences of seemingly innocent behaviour caught on camera. Farrier’s wry style captures the ludicrous nature of his revelations (this is laugh out loud funny with a dollop of kooky Kiwi for extra comedic value), while examining the frightening reality of social media run amok: you’ll laugh, you’ll gasp. Irrespective of whether Competitive Endurance Tickling is your ‘thing’, Tickled is mandatory viewing for anyone with a social conscience and an online presence (which is you, right?) // COLIN FRASER

MOTORKITE DREAMING

“Deceptively simple”
STARRING: Daryl Clarke, Aidan Glasby
DIRECTOR: Charlie Hill-Smith
M / 94 minutess
Opens August 11, 2016

Charlie Hill-Smith’s documentary Motorkite Dreaming takes you on a journey to unexpected places, both spiritually and geographically. It tells the story of two intrepid adventurers who fly ultralight aircraft (basically hang-gliders with lawn-mower engines attached to them!) 4000 kilometres south to north across central Australia. It’s not a job for the fainthearted and to cap it off the two pilots, Daryl Clarke and Aidan Glasby, don’t have much flying experience and their aircraft are second-hand; nothing like a handicap or two to keep things interesting. The men’s partners, Elsie Clarke and Lexi Keneally, make up the support crew together with ex-Us Mob musician Carroll Karpany and his sound man Bart Sansbury, who help the team navigate and negotiate with the 20 different Aboriginal tribes whose land they must cross. What could go wrong? There’s a lot packed into this doco, which was one of only two Aussie films selected for the recent inaugural Hot Docs Australia festival. Up front there’s the guys’ story but, as with all best laid plans, things happen that weren’t expected, not the least of which is the pair’s differing approaches to the task at hand - one is driven while the other is somewhat more laid back, which naturally leads to some head-butting. Then there’s the women’s journey, which is as adventurous as the men’s because things can get rough in the middle of nowhere, especially when the skies open, the roads are unsealed and absolutely everything has to be carted with you, including fuel for the vehicles and the aircraft. Add to this the stories of the local indigenous peoples, their cultural practices and their millennia of experience and knowledge of their lands and you get quite a heady brew. Last but by no means least, there’s the sheer beauty of the land as seen from above; it’s stunning and helps you understand where so many indigenous artworks arise from, that they’re maps of country. So, there are many reasons to seek out this deceptively simple documentary. Like the land the guys fly over, there’s more going on than first meets the eye; Motorkite Dreaming is a thrilling ride along the songlines of the central desert and the fault lines of the human heart. // IAN TAYLOR

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LOVE AND
FRIENDSHIP

“A mostly entertaining experience”
STARRING: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny
DIRECTOR: Whit Stillman
PG / 92 minutess
Opens July 21, 2016

Set in England in the 1790s, Whit Stillman’s (Damsels In Distress) latest film is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novella Lady Susan, from which he has crafted a finely honed ‘modern’ comedy of manners. Love & Friendship reveals how some things in life never change and that, throughout the centuries there have been, and still are, women who’ll seek a husband purely for financial comfort. Gasp! Who knew? Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) is one such woman. When we first meet her, she and her hapless daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark) are seeking shelter with wealthy relatives on a rambling estate in the countryside, having fled their previous digs because Lady Susan was having an affair with the master of the house, Lord Manwaring (Lochlann O'Mearáin). She is looking for a rich, potential husband for Frederica so that she can then concentrate on finding the same for herself but the task is difficult because Lady Susan is a source of much gossip due to her reputation for previous dalliances; and things get even more difficult when the selected target falls for her, not Frederica. All of these goings-on are confided to her gal-pal Alicia Johnson (Chloë Sevigny), a woman who hails from Connecticut but is married to Mr. Johnson (Stephen Fry), an old fashioned English gentleman who disapproves of his wife’s friendship with Lady Susan. Some of the film’s best moments arise as the women exchange ironic comments on the morals of a stitched-up society that’s predominately ruled by class. The witty dialogue, lavish costumes and fabulous locations provide a mostly entertaining experience. If you enjoy dishonesty, deceit and a rollicking battle of the sexes, then Stillman’s lively interpretation could leave you sated but, regrettably, the pay-off is somewhat disappointing. The title is a little off the mark, too, as ‘love and friendship’ don’t really exist in Lady Susan’s world; even her friendship with Alicia smacks of a ‘marriage of convenience’. One can’t help but feel that a more suitable title for this film would’ve been ‘Deception & Ambition’, because those two traits go together like a horse and carriage in this tale. // SALT

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MAGGIE’S PLAN

“Take it or leave it”
STARRING: Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hake
DIRECTOR: Rebecca Miller
M / 99 minutess
Opens July 7, 2016

Greta Gerwig (Mistress America) is a curios presence on screen – one part charming for each part irritating. Better known as the co-creator and star of several projects with her husband Noah Baumbach (While We’re Young), she’s teamed up with Rebecca Miller (Proof) in this charmingly irritating story about a New York singleton who decides to have a baby. This is Maggie’s Plan, one that goes drastically wrong when she meets and falls for John (Ethan Hawke - Predestination), and destroys his brittle marriage to the brittle yet brilliant Georgette (Julianne Moore - Freeheld). There’s more than a touch of Woody Allen to (daughter of Arthur) Miller’s indie-rom-com script which is ready made for festival audiences from Sundance to Sydney. As the various couples make and break company, the film is winsome, chatty, knowing, funny, predictable, surprising, endearing and annoying in equal measure. It relies heavily on Miller’s ability to write for her actors (which is mostly effective) and her ability to guide them through the peaks and lows of the bitter-sweet script (again, mostly effective). Consequently, there’s a take it or leave it quality to everything about Maggie’s Plan, from your engagement with their woes to your pleasure in the presence of such over-anxious characters (see above re Woody Allen). Hawke, Moore and Gerwig are all on point, it’s more a question of whether you want to be there with them. Take it, and Miller serves up an engaging couple of hours in the cinema. Leave it, and you’ll soon be twitching for the end credits to start rolling. // COLIN FRASER

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THE LEGEND OF TARZAN

“A rather bumpy ride”
STARRING: Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie
DIRECTOR: David Yates
M / 110 minutess
Opens July 7, 2016

The Legend Of Tarzan directed by David Yates - who was at the helm of the last four Harry Potter films - is a CGI extravaganza that takes you on a rather bumpy ride through the Congo, swinging from scene to scene with gay abandon. John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, aka Tarzan, ‘King’ of the Apes (Alexander Skarsgård), is brooding in his palatial English manor when he is approached to return to the Congo, a region that is being systematically exploited by the King of Belgium, Leopold II. Agreeing to make the trip, he is accompanied by his wife Lady Jane Clayton (Margot Robbie), who is also familiar with the jungle, and US envoy George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson). Upon their arrival they meet up with old pals, among them a village chief and a pride of lions that nuzzle up to Tarzan like big ol’ domestic pussy cats. There are also a number of flashbacks to Tarzan’s childhood during which we learn (that’s if you are unfamiliar with the original tales by Edgar Rice Burroughs) that he’s been brought up by the Mangani, a fictional species of ape described by Burroughs as being somewhere between chimpanzees and gorillas. Tarzan is soon separated from Jane but he quickly encounters his old ‘family’ group and reconnects with it. The arrival of the ever malevolent Christoph Waltz as slave trader Leon Rom adds to the drama as he chugs up river in a steam boat with a hold full of captured slaves, a cache of diamonds and a white, female prisoner – none other than Jane.
Before long the film becomes a CGI spectacular as wild animals fill the screen, none of them living, breathing beasts. It is interesting to view these scenes as there has been criticism levelled towards the effects, which some have deemed not as effective as those in the recent The Jungle Book. Nevertheless, they are pretty impressive, as is the jungle terrain that Tarzan flies through on the end of a vine - and the eye candy provided by Alexander Skarsgård’s pecs is pretty impressive too! Not bad considering the entire enterprise was shot outside of London. Skarsgård and Robbie make a very watchable super-model couple and they manage to deliver their well-worn lines with a suitable amount of conviction. If The Legend Of Tarzan’s storyline doesn’t grab you, just sit back and enjoy the animals as they stampede and cavort across the screen - some scenes are simply adorable. // SALT

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THE WAIT

“A complex piece of cinema”
STARRING: Juliette Binoche
Lou de Laâge
DIRECTOR: Piero Messina
M / 100 minutes / subtitles
Opens June 30, 2016

From a villa in the shadow of Sicily’s Mt. Etna during the lead-up to Easter 2006, comes this dark, original offering from Italian director Piero Messina, and we quickly understand that a death has recently occurred in this place. Out of the blue, Anna (Juliette Binoche), the mistress of the house, receives a call from her son’s girlfriend, Jeanne (Lou De Laâge), announcing her imminent arrival at the villa to await Giuseppe, who is expected on Easter Sunday. When Jeanne arrives, the windows are shuttered, there is dark fabric draped over all the mirrors and the house is occupied by back-clad mourners; she is told that they are grieving for the death of Anna’s brother. As they wait for Giuseppe, the two women develop a tentative relationship, slowly learning a little more about each other and their situations. Jeanne leaves constant messages for Giuseppe when her calls go unanswered (this is prior to the advent of iPhones, when a person’s whereabouts weren’t able to be easily tracked). From one of these messages we learn that Jeanne and Giuseppe had been estranged for a while and that this was going to be a reunion of sorts, and they were hoping to re-kindle their relationship over the Easter period. All the while, the delicate waltz by the two women is discretely observed by Anna’s employee, Pietro (Giorgio Colangeli), who seems to know more about the situation than he lets on…. The rural Sicilian locations are spectacularly captured by Francesco Di Giacomo’s brooding cinematography; Binoche is mesmerizing as a mother harbouring a secret that is tearing her apart and De Laâge is equally good as a mystified young woman trying to find her way in unfamiliar circumstances. Messina has succeeded in taking his audience on a journey that stays with you - judging from this feature debut he is a director to watch out for. The Wait is a complex piece of cinema that draws deeply from the well of loss, religion and contemplation. // SALT

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MILES AHEAD

“Fine performance by Cheadle”
STARRING: Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor
DIRECTOR: Don Cheadle
M / 100 minutes
Opens June 16, 2016

Miles Dewey Davis III, better known simply as Miles Davis, was one of the world’s most influential jazz musicians from the 1940s to the ‘80s. He was also a complex character with an exuberant personality; a man who lived on the edge, especially during a dark hiatus when he bailed out, living as a drug-addled recluse with a penchant for cocaine. Don Cheadle, who plays Davis here, also directed, produced and co-wrote the screenplay of this idiosyncratic semi-fictional bio-pic. The story takes place in the mid-‘70s during Davis’s self-imposed exile from music and flashes back to the more sober moments in his life when he was married to the beautiful dancer Frances Taylor (Emayatazy Corinealdi), with whom he had a notoriously tempestuous relationship. Cheadle wanted to avoid the usual tropes employed in bio-pics so he created a fictional character claiming to be a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, David Brill, as a way of drawing out Davis’s story. Brill (Ewan McGregor) seems determined to interview Davis to get the scoop on his latest work but could be trying to purloin the tape of these sessions for himself. This recording is also being hotly pursued by Davis’s record company executives, frustrated by the fact that he has not delivered an album for some time. The ensuing drama has Davis producing a gun in the offices of CBS, procuring cocaine and heroin with the aid of Brill, and fighting off various badasses intent on stealing the demo tape. Cheadle’s performance is pitch-perfect, complete with the distinctive voice and attitude that Miles was famous for. He and McGregor work well together, at one point being disparagingly referred to as “the junkie and the flunky.” As they go about their business the action is sometimes reminiscent of a Keystone Cops movie, the madcap proceedings being so slapstick and off-the-wall, however this could be read as Cheadle riffing on Davis’s life in much the same free-wheeling way that the great trumpeter would do with his music. Miles Ahead is not a perfect film but it’s worth the price of admission for the fine performance by Cheadle, a performance which may well garner him an Oscar nom. It delivers the message that while much of Miles Davis’s music is flawless, the man himself was badly flawed. // SALT

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GOD WILLING

“Plenty of funny moments”
STARRING: Marco Giallini, Alessandro Gassman
DIRECTOR: Eduardo Falcone
PG / 87 minutes / Italy / subtitles
Opens June 2, 2016

In his directorial debut, God Willing (Se Dio Vuole), Edoardo Falcone has managed to create an interesting comedy covering fairly serious religious issues by looking at the meaning of life from both angles (depending on which side of the religious fence his characters sit on), that is, whether they are believers or non-believers. Tommaso (Marco Giallini) is a heart surgeon who doesn’t believe in God or miracles because, as far as he’s concerned, it is solely his expertise and skill that saves people’s lives. His wife Carla (Laura Morante) is completely disillusioned with the emptiness of her life and has taken to hiding bottles of wine in her wardrobe so she can surreptitiously drown her sorrows. The couple has two children, a daughter Bianca (Ilaria Spada), who is an adorable idiot married to a ruthless estate agent Gianni (Edoardo Pesce), and their son Andrea (Enrico Oetiker), who is studying medicine, following in his father’s footsteps. When Andrea starts mysteriously going out at night the family worries about his ‘secret’ and, when it is revealed, Tommaso decides to take matters into his own hands. He makes contact with a Vespa-riding, kind-of ‘everyman’ priest, Don Pietro (Alessandro Gassman), who makes him face up to his own character failings. There is a strong message in the fact that while Don Pietro believes that God loves everyone, he also thinks that it’s just as important that we learn to love ourselves. There are plenty of funny moments exploring this idea, however, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was any financial backing from the very institution that is being discussed. Maybe I’m being paranoid or maybe Falcone is just playing with the idea that we all are searching for something and that the answer lies wherever we find it. // SALT

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IS THIS THE REAL WORLD

“Seductive”
STARRING: Sean Keenan, Susie Porter
DIRECTOR: Martin McKenna
MA15+ / 88 minutes
Opens May 26, 2016

Martin McKenna's captivating homegrown drama about teenage angst recalls the best moments of 2003's Somersault and the soaring production of Murali Thuralli's 2006 Cannes' entry, 2:37. With a backpack full of trouble, Mark (relative newcomer Sean Keenan) is trying to make the most of things at a new school. His cardboard-chardonnay loving mother (a note perfect Susie Porter) has moved the kids, including Mark’s jail-bird brother (rapper 360 aka Matthew Colwell), for a fresh start with Grandma (Julia Blake); but despite her best efforts, and his for that matter, it's not long before Mark falls foul of the deputy principle, and falls for his daughter. With tragedy inevitable, this is a story about journey rather than destination and to McKenna's considerable credit, he delivers a film far above the ABC milieu in which it might otherwise reside. Superior production accounts for some of that – fluid, engaging camerawork coaxes a fresh view from familiar settings – while a tangible honesty to the narrative strengthens that visual experience. Although coming of age tales are hardly new, McKenna leverages that known value to considerable advantage. It may be Mark’s story, but nor is it so far from your own. Performance brings it home: all the cast, even those strapped to ugly characters, have winning appeal that, like Kennan's vitality and waifish good looks, and the film itself, prove effortlessly seductive. // COLIN FRASER

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QUEEN OF THE DESERT

“Fast and loose”
STARRING: Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson
DIRECTOR: Werner Herzog
M / 128 minutes
Opens June 2, 2016

The German director Werner Herzog has created an impressive body of work over six decades, often about odd characters with unique talents for dealing with the difficult environments in which they find themselves. In his latest film, Queen Of The Desert, he once more brings this theme to the screen; however, unlike David Lean’s desert epic Lawrence Of Arabia, Herzog has delivered a limp, almost corny depiction of the life of the early 20th century explorer, writer, adventurer and archaeologist, Gertrude Lowthian Bell. Bell travelled extensively in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Arabia in the years leading up to and during the Great War, was a contemporary of T. E. Lawrence, and was highly influential in British Imperial policy-making of the day. Here Nicole Kidman portrays Bell as a feisty personality who persists in getting her way at a time when women were still regarded as ‘the gentle sex.’ An early scene, set in County Durham, England, reveals a young woman who wants to get the hell out of her boring, privileged British existence so, through a family connection, travels to Teheran where she commences a life in pursuit of her passions. She falls head-over-heels for Consul Secretary Henry Cadogan (James Franco) but, when the affair ends tragically, she commences her travels into the desert and the heart of Bedouin territory. Bell managed to establish close relations with tribes across the region and her subsequent writings opened up the Arabian Desert to the rest of the world. Her prolific diaries, which were her communication with another suitor, Major Charles Doughty-Wylie (Damian Lewis), were unique, as was her relationship with Lawrence (Robert Pattison). This is an impressive story but unfortunately Herzog’s depiction is a mess. The Moroccan and Jordanian locations are breathtakingly beautiful but the miscast roles destroy the credibility of the yarn: James Franco’s British accent is all over the place and when Robert Pattinson first appeared on screen a muffled guffaw went through the preview audience - he looks supremely uncomfortable in his tea towel-like headgear. Lewis, on the other hand, manages to deliver, as does Bell’s guide, Fattuh, played by the Syrian-American actor Jay Abdo. US critic Roger Ebert once wrote, “in Herzog the line between fact and fiction is a shifting one. He cares not for accuracy but for effect, for a transcendent ecstasy.” True to form, the director has played fast and loose with the facts in Queen Of The Desert but, regrettably, there’s no hint of ecstasy in this outing. // SALT

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MONEY MONSTER

“Becomes just plain silly”
STARRING: George Clooney, Julia Roberts
DIRECTOR: Jodie Foster
M / 98 minutes
Opens June 2, 2016

Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the silver-haired host of a New York-based TV program that provides financial information about the stock market and companies worth investing in to its audience, all of it delivered live in a highly flamboyant visual style such as when he brings on dancing girls and dons a top hat to deliver his hot tips. In the background is his ever-present producer Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), who vainly endeavours to keep her charge within the boundaries of the script. Gates presents as a likeable but egotistical type, typical of many a TV host, who gives little thought to his viewers until the day when, during one of his routine broadcasts, a delivery man enters the studio and pulls out a gun. It turns out that he’s a blue-collar worker Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell), who’s invested his life savings in a company given a ‘safe-as-banks’ recommendation by Gates, but which has collapsed, losing millions of dollars of its shareholders’ money. The ensuing drama is played out as the cameras roll and as Fenn whispers instructions into Gates’s earpiece, while endeavouring to get to the bottom of the financial scandal and locate the failed company’s missing CEO, Walt Camby (Dominic West). The story is played out in the studio until the gunman and his hostage take to the streets and it is at this point that the film loses any credibility and becomes just plain silly. Until then the tension has been heightened by the claustrophobic atmosphere of the enclosed studio set, but it’s all dissipated when the action opens up. Clooney and Roberts provide solid performances and are ably supported by O’Connell’s angst-ridden performance and West’s slimy CEO character. Money Monster is Jodie Foster’s fourth directorial role for the cinema and she has once again shown her mettle, but it’s a shame she didn’t deliver a message about the caprices of the financial markets and the risks of trying to make one’s fortune on the basis of speculation - it would’ve made for a much more plausible film… and a much more engaging one. // SALT

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THE NICE GUYS

“Highly entertaining [and] disappointing”
STARRING: Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe
DIRECTOR: Shane Black
MA15+ / 116 minutes
Opens May 26, 2016

The Nice Guys is cinematic candy floss: it starts off bright and fun but about half way through begins to taste a bit samey and before long you’re looking for another flavour, and wishing it was over. When you do finally get to the end, sugar being sugar, you’ve still got the empty feeling you had at the start. Disappointing. Experienced in writing odd-couple buddy-movies (Lethal Weapon) and directing LA detective yarns (2005’s far superior Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), writer/director Shane Black has created this very agreeable detective-odd-couple-buddy-movie. The Nice Guys is highly entertaining, at least at the start, as Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe come together in the late 1970’s to solve a rash of murders in LA’s porn industry. The pair are easy company as they work a good line in sparring wit and finely tuned slapstick. Good chunks of this is great fun, however a misplaced subplot that involves government conspiracy and the Detroit car industry soon drags down a long middle section until guns and car chases take over at the end. When in doubt, shoot your way out. Granted, The Nice Guys was never intended as a main course, but a little more desert than snack might have left us feeling a lot less empty. // COLIN FRASER

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ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

“Muddled”
STARRING: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp
DIRECTOR: James Bobin
PG / 113 minutes
Opens May 26, 2016

In this muddled ‘adaptation’ of Lewis Carroll’s children’s fantasy, the Brit TV director James Bobin has succeeded in changing the storyline to such a degree that one sometimes wonders where the heck one is and what the heck we’re doing there. Alice Through The Looking Glass bears little resemblance to the original work; it comes across as a messy barrage of noise and confusion that sends its characters on a nonsensical goose chase that’s only saved by occasional funny moments, thanks to the comedians on set, namely Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum and Sacha Baron Cohen as Time. There’s also a poignant moment when we recognise the voice of Absolem, the caterpillar, as Alan Rickman’s – it was Rickman’s last film and the filmmakers have dedicated it to him. Travelling through the mirror, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) ends up fighting to save Tarrant Hightopp (Johnny Depp), battling the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and discovering what happened to the Mad Hatter’s missing family. It’s all visualised in the same over-the-top production style as Tim Burton’s original Alice In Wonderland but does little to engage you with the story. The over-complicated plot somehow manages to mash the major theme about time being of paramount importance; rather, it makes you realise how one should cherish time and you’ve just wasted 113 minutes of yours. “This can not be good,” as the Mad Hatter prophetically uttered. // SALT

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THE MEDDLER

“Sweet, sensitive”
STARRING: Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne
DIRECTOR: Andrew Rossi
M / 100 minutes
Opens May 19, 2016

The Meddler, by Italo-American director Lorene Scafaria, has a semi-autobiographical plot that deals with grief and loneliness. These issues were also raised in the recent Mia Madre, but in this case they are revealed through the actions of a mother grieving over the loss of her husband, a successful builder. Marnie Minervini (Susan Sarandon - Zoolander 2) is a recently bereaved widow in her late 60s who moves from New Jersey to LA to be closer to her daughter Lori (Rose Byrne - The Place Beyond The Pines), a writer for TV busy on location with her latest screenplay. Marnie tries to involve herself in her daughter’s life but only succeeds in being intrusive. Her suffocating behaviour is thoroughly annoying but at the same time Sarandon keeps you on Marnie’s side, not so much in sympathy as in empathy - Marnie is someone who simply can’t cope with being alone. You get the impression that she has spent most of her life looking after her partner and child and doesn’t know how to do the same for herself; Sarandon ably exhibits how grief and loneliness often go hand in hand. The characters are realistically portrayed, particularly the mother and daughter roles. There comes a slight respite for Lori, or at least a moment of hope, when Marnie meets an ex-cop, Zipper (J.K. Simmons - Whiplash) on a movie set she literally walks into. This rather mismatched couple commences a friendship and seems to get it together - well, sort of. There is a charming scene between the two when Zipper takes Marnie to visit his Dolly Parton-loving chickens! What could have been a cringe-worthy experience is in fact a sweet, sensitive exposé on how people deal with tragedy in their lives. It would’ve been a perfect choice to take your mum to as a Mother’s Day treat - pity it opened two weeks later! // SALT

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HARRY & SNOWMAN

“You couldn’t make this stuff up!”
DOCUMENTARY: Harry DeLeyer
DIRECTOR: Ron Davis
G / 83 minutes
Opens May 19, 2016

Ron Davis’ documentary Harry & Snowman is one of those classic ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ stories: in 1956, horse trainer and riding instructor Harry DeLeyer gets held up on his way to a horse auction, so by the time he arrives it’s all over. Remaining are a few trucks laden with the leftovers, farm horses bound for the knacker’s yard. While looking them over, one particular white horse catches his eye and he buys it for the lowly sum of $80. Fast forward a few years and the horse, now named Snowman, is the champion show jumper in the USA, having beaten all the bluebloods and thoroughbreds trained all their lives for showjumping. How this happened, and the incredible bond that was formed between man and beast in the process, is the subject of this moving and powerful award-winning film. You couldn’t make this stuff up! // IAN TAYLOR

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X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

“Feel the power”
STARRING: James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence
DIRECTOR: Bryan Singer
MA15+ / 144 minutes
Opens May 19, 2016

In Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse an impressive pre-credit sequence takes you into the bowels of an ancient Egyptian pyramid where we are witness to the final transformation of En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis) before he becomes entombed for millennia. We are then taken on a 30-second techno-trip through history before arriving in the 1980s. Voilà! Still, it’s a fitting place to end up, following on as it does from the two most recent X-Men outings, X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past, which were set in the ‘60s and ‘70s respectively. And of course, it’s not long before Apocalypse’s tomb is disturbed and he too arrives in the age of big hair and MAD (the Super Power’s doctrine of Mutually Assured [nuclear] Destruction). [Ed. Don’t worry, the reference is relevant to the plot.] Thus is the scene set for the Marvel mayhem that follows in this two-and-a-half hour X-travaganza! Cleverly, scriptwriter Simon Kinberg has made the plot accessible and satisfying to both newcomers and fans of the X-Men universe; it’s not all action - plenty of back-story and characterisation are provided, enough to keep one engaged throughout the film. As James McAvoy’s (X-Men: First Class / X-Men: Days of Future Past) Professor Charles Xavier says to Sophie Turner’s (Game of Thrones) flame-haired clairvoyant Phoenix/Jean Gray, “Just go with it! Feel the power.” // IAN TAYLOR

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THE FIRST MONDAY
IN MAY

“Occasionally mind boggling”
DOCUMENTARY: Anna Wintour, Andrew Bolton
DIRECTOR: Andrew Rossi
M / 90 minutes
Opens May 12, 2016

What differentiates this exceptional fashion documentary (virtually a genre of its own) from the likes of Iris or Dior And I is that it almost succeeds in convincing us that fashion is, of itself, art. That it even feels it has to convince us speaks to a whole other story that director Andrew Rossi folds in along this stunningly beautiful, often provocative and occasionally mind boggling journey. Under the watchful gaze of curator Andrew Bolton, New York’s Metropolitan Museum is pulling together its annual fundraising gala whose centrepiece is an exhibition about Chinese fashion through the ages. Well, Chinese fashion as seen through the eyes of Europeans like Dior, Galliano, Versace, Gaultier. And therein the nub as the show becomes a dialogue about the way East and West engage on and beyond the runway. It’s also seeks to stir up the establishment who frown upon those toiling in the ’decorative arts’ and their audacity to show them at The Met! All quite fascinating, as is the unbridled excess that is the fundraiser (Baz Lhurman and Wong Kar Wai are among the artistic directors), a show which rivals the Oscars for phenomenal presentation and red carpet buzz. With cameos from everyone you’ve ever heard of, plus significant contribution from the driving force of Vogue’s Anna Winttour, there’s a lot to grab your attention. Yet as fascinating as The First Monday In May undeniably is, the issue of gender bias remains untouched. Here’s a world in which men design for women while men remain shackeled to suits (with Bolton’s signature ankle coolers being the only breakout moment). Why? Now there’s a conversation to have. // COLIN FRASER

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BASTILLE DAY

“High octane action”
STARRING: Idris Elba, Richard Madden
DIRECTOR: James Watkins
M / 92 minutes
Opens May 12, 2016

Wrapped in Paris a year before the recent terrorist atrocities in that city and in Brussels, James Watkin’s Bastille Day is buoyed by the chemistry between his leading players as Sean Briar (Idris Elba - Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom), a maverick CIA agent, and Michael Mason (Richard Madden - Cinderella), an American pickpocket, take the audience on a 24-hour thrill ride. The plot revolves around a bomb attack in Montmartre that’s incorrectly assumed to be the work of an Islamic extremist cell trying to create havoc in the City of Light. The two characters spar well together: Sean doesn’t work by the rule book so he’s prepared to enlist Michael as his unwilling ally when he senses that pickpocket’s professional skills will come in handy, plus he’s assured of his loyalty because Michael was unwittingly involved in the bombing. From the outset when they chase each other across the Parisian rooftops in a heart-stopping sequence, we see the daredevil behaviour that will bond the two men into a formidable team that’s edgy if not entirely believable. The introduction of a ‘victim of circumstance’ in the person of duped bomb mule Zoe (Charlotte Le Bon) adds to the tension as the three endeavour to uncover the real assassins and prevent more loss of life. Elba has been touted as the first black James Bond and, if the rumour is true, it’s not such a bad idea because he can certainly play the cool bad dude. Scottish actor Madden could well break out from his mainly TV roles after this too; Bastille Day is high octane action combined with a bit of madcap humour that, if successful, could lead to a franchise. The hook of teaming up a member of the CIA with a petty criminal is novel, even if it all goes a bit over the top here. // SALT

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WHISKY TANGO FOXTROT

“Takes you to unexpected places”
STARRING: Tina Fey, Martin Freeman
DIRECTOR: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
MA / 112 minutes
Opens May 12, 2016

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange days In Afghanistan and Pakistan. It’s a chaotic and wry vision of the coverage of the war in Afghanistan and, by extrapolation, war in general. We meet Baker (Tina Fey - Sisters) as she is being singled out from her journalist colleagues in Chicago as a childless, unmarried member of staff who has, therefore, the credentials to head off to Kabul. She leaves behind a half-hearted relationship with a boyfriend who’s under the impression she’ll only be away three months; however, before too long, the seduction of the ‘scoop’ and the heightened atmosphere of life in a war zone gets under her skin and she’s seduced by the hyper situation she finds herself in. Her journo gal-pal Tanya (Margot Robbie) introduces her to the rules of engagement, sexual engagement that is, and she hooks up with Scottish photographer Iain MacKelpie (Martin Freeman), while being wooed by a prominent Afghani politician (Alfred Molina) and managing to win over US Marine General Hollanek (Billy Bob Thornton), all good ‘sources’ who fuel her increasing addiction to war reporting. Fey is superb as someone who’s in the middle of a situation she doesn’t fully understand, at least initially; Robbie is terrific as a reporter who’s full of ambition and prepared to go to any lengths to achieve her goals; Freeman is just right as Baker’s war-time love interest; Molina is suitably sleazy and Billy Bob works well in his role as the seasoned officer who’s seen it all before. There are gags galore in Robert Carlock’s script, at least in the first half before the film takes a darker, less amplified turn. Together they succeed in delivering what could have been a disaster into a believable and watchable film that takes you to unexpected places. // SALT

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FLORENCE
FOSTER JENKINS

“Enjoyable”
STARRING: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant
DIRECTOR: Stephen Frears
PG / 110 minutes
Opens May 5, 2016

Arriving hard on the heels of Marguerite, a recent French release which reimagined the true story of Florence Jenkins, this more accurate version of her life is an engaging, star-studded experience about the singer who couldn't. And Florence (Meryl Streep) really couldn't. A New York socialite, her love of music, phenomenal fortune, coterie of sycophants, terminal illness and adoring husband created the perfect storm in which she was enabled to pursue a dream to perform in public (Carnegie Hall no less). No matter that she couldn't hold a tune in a bucket – strangled cats anyone – she had money and she had her husband. In truth, if you've seen Marguerite, this account by Stephen Frears (Philomena) has little to hold your attention beyond some fine production work and the starry cast (Hugh Grant is a revelation). If you haven't, Florence Foster Jenkins is a terrific love story built around the elephant in her drawing room – delusion. Although this is one of Frears' lesser films (it lacks the subtlety, bite and heft of his finer work), with Streep and Grant firing like the seasoned veterans they are, it remains an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours in the cinema. Her voice notwithstanding. // COLIN FRASER

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CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

“Exhilarating”
STARRING: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr
DIRECTOR: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
M / 147 minutes
Opens April 28, 2016

What is it with this rash of super-hero face offs? First the Star Wars juggernaut asked us to choose between light and dark; then we had to choose between Batman v Superman and now choose again as Captain America (with pals) stares down Iron Man (with different pals) in what’s loosely dubbed a ‘civil war’. Fans of the Marvel-sphere watched in barely controlled delight as comers old and new, plus a couple of unexpected cameos, lined up to crush the living daylights out of one another. The Avengers have been duped by a victim of their past who resurrects the Winter Soldier as a ruse to further divide the ‘enhanced humans’, already troubled by the watchful eye of the United Nations. Writing is crisp, performances are strong, SFX are leading edge (witness a young Tony Stark – jaw-dropping) and there’s a harmony, a cohesion to the story-telling often missing in superhero smash ups – rightfully positioning Marvel in a way DC and others can only dream about. Claims that this is one of, if not the, best Marvel films are well founded. Captain America: Civil War is an exhilarating ride that toys with its own history, fills in more back-story, gives plenty to gasp and care about while even flirting with socio-political structure out here in the real world (notably that these vigilantes are a cipher for governments and corporations whose actions are without restraint, conscience or account). If only the makers would embrace these ideas fully, there’d be place for their films for those of us well beyond their fan base. And that would be a Marvel to behold. // COLIN FRASER

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A MONTH
OF SUNDAYS

“Charming”
STARRING: Anthony LaPaglia, Julia Blake
DIRECTOR: Matthew Saville
PG / 96 minutes
Opens April 28, 2016

Frank (Anthony LaPaglia - Holding The Man) is in a mood. The real-estate agent is separated from his famous actor wife, struggling with his teenage son, his job, his future and the loss of his deceased mother. A mix-up puts elderly Sarah (Julia Blake - Last Dance) squarely in his life as a surrogate for just about everyone from whom he’s estranged. Plus she’s got a really nice house. This charming, existential drama from writer/director Matthew Saville (Felony) works in large part thanks to its very talented leads (including welcome comic relief from John Clarke as Frank’s amenable boss). As Frank crawls slowly to the realisation that it’s time to shake off his mood and move on from just about everything, Saville gives his cast plenty of room to do their amiable thing. And A Month Of Sundays is amiable, even though a more brutal pruning in both the script and edit suites would have done no harm, thus raising this solid ‘Channel 9’ entertainment into a minor dramatic gem. // COLIN FRASER

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“Bewitching [and] bewildering”
STARRING: Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase
DIRECTOR: Naomi Kawase
M / 113 minutes / subtitles
Opens April 28, 2016

There’s a recurring theme in Japanese cinema around attaining perfection. Jiro Dreams Of Sushi documents Jiro’s quest to create the perfect piece of sushi; 1985’s Tampopo went in search of noodle nirvana (which this writer subsequently found near the slopes of Mt Fuji – a story for another day). An (Sweet Bean) charts similar territory when the owner of a tiny cake shop is visited by an elderly neighbour who says his an (a bean curd treat) isn’t up to scratch. Perfection, she insists, can be achieved. There’s also a sense she has a personal agenda, one that coincides with the shopkeeper’s unrealised need for something more in his own life. Elements of this delightful story are utterly bewitching while yet others are much more bewildering – as is often the nature of rarefied Japanese drama. An is not to everyone’s taste, not a lot happens and much of what does is frequently perplexing, but if you’re after a quiet, considered, existential tour of perfecting an and the societal comparisons therein – An is the film for you. // COLIN FRASER

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MARGUERITE

“Heartbreakingly funny”
STARRING: Catherine Frot, André Marcon
DIRECTOR: Xavier Giannoli
M / 129 minutes / subtitles
Opens April 21, 2016

Talk about spoiled rich kid. Not that Marguerite is a kid exactly, but such is the scale of her vast fortune that philanthropy buys the favour, and deafness, of her French music society in the 1920’s. For as much as Marguerite hears herself as a talented opera singer, reality has her stationed much closer to a tortured cat. Several cats. When a journalist, his anarchist friend and a truly talented young woman are brought into her fold, a chain of events will take them all on a journey of painful self-discovery. This telling dramedy from Xavier Gianolli (who's 2006 The Singer was an equally charming foray into the world of music) wraps itself in a sumptuous veneer of les années folles, albeit from the aristocratic end of town. It also speaks to the an age of political upheaval, social forgetfulness and, most disarmingly, to the instability of a yearning heart. For it's the simple desire to be noticed by her husband that drives Marguerite headlong toward the Paris stage, enabled by the journalist, the anarchist, her husband, butler, friends, anyone who stands to benefit from the merest slice of her fortune or fame. It's heartbreakingly funny though Gianolli never invites us to laugh at Marguerite (a brilliant Catherine Frot – The Page Turner) directly. He leaves cruelty to his characters so we can savour the childlike passion of a woman who wants only one thing. That she almost gets it is the funniest, cruelest and most heart-breaking moment of all. // COLIN FRASER

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ALLEGIANT: THE DIVERGENT SERIES

“Woeful”
STARRING: Shailene Woodley, Jeff Daniels
DIRECTOR: Robert Schwentke
M / 120 minutes
Opens April 14, 2016

Part 3 of this sub-par Hunger Games franchise arrives with all the expectation of Jaws 5, which is to say, there are some enthusiasts, but they’re hard to find. Picking up soon after Naomi Watts kills off Kate Winslet in Insurgent (part 2 of the Divergent series), and a lucky escape it is for her, Triss and boyfriend Four are heading for the wall. In a post-apocalyptic landscape beyond their city lies another run by Jeff Daniels who is conducting a genetic experiment on the Divergents. Where this goes next is the least surprising event in a film devoid of surprise, other than just how bad it really is. Allegiant starts with promise of the ‘so bad it’s good’ variety, there are moments of unintended laugh out loud fun, but they quickly dissipate in a soup of cheesy clichés: dialogue, plotting, production, effects, acting, it’s all woefully cliché-ridden. Logic also takes a back seat as the ‘narrative’ trots to a head-scratching close, of a sort, in anticipation of Ascendant. And if you ever watched Jaws 4 (The Revenge), you’ll know why it didn’t go any further. Hopefully the producers of Divergent can learn from history. // COLIN FRASER

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BATMAN v SUPERMAN

“Surprisingly entertaining”
STARRING: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill
DIRECTOR: Zach Snyder
M / 157 minutes
Opens March 24, 2016

Two worlds collide in the highly anticipated and surprisingly entertaining clash of Titans from Zach Snyder (Man Of Steel), and I'm not just talking about the nirvana of perfectly aligned franchise and merchandise opportunities. Batman V Superman is ultimately a clash of super-egos when the caped duo, nudged by Lex Luthor, bang heads over the purpose of God and meaning of life – seriously, Snyder revisits this theme time and again as the nefarious Luthor takes aim at Gotham City and Metropolis. Sure, you've got to take a massive leap of faith to even join the story, but Snyder holds your hand most of the way and, aside from a couple of jarring moments, guides you to the end without letting go. Whilst unashamedly preposterous (Wonder Woman?!), the dark and heady subtext sets this apart from most superhero mashups (The Avengers, for instance) to give it a welcome, brooding intensity and surprisingly human touch. The ensuing CGI carnage is all too familiar, but with a surprise or two along the way and Snyder's deft pacing, Batman V Superman makes it across the line. // COLIN FRASER

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IN DETAIL

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