What’s it about:
The great chateaux of Bordeaux struggle to accommodate the voracious appetite for their rare, expensive wines, which have become a powerful status symbol in booming China.

What did we think?
Cindy says: A film about the French red wine industry and the growing Chinese thirst for luxury goods?  Dry, right?  No.  Elegant, full-bodied, flamboyant, dense.  From the narration by Russell Crowe, whose dulcet tones may have left this viewer vibrating in her seat, to the sweeping views of the vineyards of Bordeaux, it is a delight.  The directors have bottled lessons in history, economics, marketing, China’s global reach, and the love of the world’s best red into a beautiful blend.  Even this teetotaller is now ready to fork out big bucks to experience whatever is in one of those magical bottles.  In the words of one of the Bordelais chateau owners, ‘Our aim shouldn’t be to impress people.  We should aim to please people’. And I am pleased to report this film does just that. Santé.

What’s it about?
Based on the autobiographical novel, the tempestuous 6-year relationship between Liberace and his (much younger) lover, Scott Thorson, is recounted.

What did we think?
Cindy says: “Too much of a good thing is wonderful”. At the heart of this beautifully crafted film is excess, sex, but most of all, romance.  Michael Douglas and Matt Damon have incredible chemistry as Liberace and his ”baby boy” Scott Thorson.  Director Steven Soderbergh again deftly explores the truth of human emotion, while Douglas is particularly mesmerising and at times superbly unrecognisable.   The audience is treated to the sumptuous visual and aural feast that was the tragic love story spanning the last decade of the flamboyant entertainers final decade.  Sadly this magnificent and sparkly biopic will not grace the cinema screens in the US.  While it has secured a theatrical release here in Australia and Europe, American audiences will have to tune in to HBO, who stepped up with the cash to fund it after studios refused to commit, the actors were told that it would be a career ending project and the director was told it simply shouldn’t be made.  And as Soderbergh’s possible swan song, we have one more thing to thank HBO for giving us: pure entertainment gold.

What’s it about?
A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.

What did we think?
Cindy says: I headed into the cinema with great expectations, and thankfully I was rewarded – this is a good one.  Director Mike Newell takes us back to a sumptuous Dickensian time ripe with dirt and excess.  The film unfolds beautifully with each chapter of the story furnished with charming costuming and detailed art direction.  Special mention goes to Miss Havisham’s delightfully decaying wedding banquet.

I was taken in by everything and everyone.  Everyone except the delightfully pretty Jeremy Irvine.  In the pivotal lead role of Pip he is out-acted by everything and everyone in the film.  Expectations almost met. Almost.

What’s it about?
Manhattan couple Marion and Mingus, who each have children from prior relationships, find their comfortable family dynamic jostled by a visit from Marion’s relatives.

What Did We Think?
Cindy says: I jadore this film – it is stylish, sweet, clever, funny and real. When I grow up I hope this is what life is like.   Thank you Julie Delpy for this time inviting me into your New York home at the same time your family visits from Paris.  Special mention also goes to Chris Rock for being super adorable.  Watch this film now – for Francophiles and I HEART NEW YORK-ers alike.

Tres impressive!

What’s it about?

A factory worker, Douglas Quaid, begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting Rekall – a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led – goes wrong and he finds himself on the run.

What did we think?

Cindy says: Even though I am a child of the 80’s, I cannot ‘recall’ the original film.  Probs lucky for me.  This film is an action-packed thrill ride blockbuster, and really only deserves one viewing, otherwise the gig is definitely up.

Colin Farrell erases any memory of a hammy Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jessica Biel is beautiful.  Full stop.  Director Mr Wiseman creates a visually stunning world, and employs his visually stunning wife.  Full stop.

If the idea of Blade Runner, The Bourne Identity and Robocop having a threesome is the kind of memory you desire, a trip to ‘Total Rekall’ should do the trick.

What’s it about?

In small-town Texas, the local mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, though when he kills her, he goes to great lengths to create the illusion that she’s alive.

What did we think?

Cindy says: Like the title character, this film is short and sweet, and a little bit dull, and leaves me in two minds.  Appearing as a cross between a mockumentary and a midday movie, the big-name stars (Jack Black, Matthew McConaughy and Shirley MacLaine) seem a little out of place among an outstanding cast of unknowns featured as the townsfolk of Carthage, Texas. These unknowns totally steal the show as they narrate the plight of their small-town hero. Based on a true story, this is a comic murder mystery with not a lot of shock, but plenty of “awww”.

 What’s it about? 
A male stripper teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money.

What did we think?
I was ready to have the pants entertained off me, and the first half hour did just that.  There was so much eye candy early on – special mentions go to Matthew McConaughey’s on-screen bravado and bongo playing and Channing Tatum’s body moves.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Yes.

But, the sugar high simply wore off.  Like being sober at a hen’s night, at first it was exciting and fun and a little bit naughty, but the longer it dragged on, the more you wished you were drunk off your ass.

Needed less romance, more bromance.  Left the crowd wanting less talking, more stripping dancing.  P.S. I need a teacup piglet.