Philomena
Marnie says: Philomena is “based on a true story” done right. The central premise – one woman’s tireless search for her son, and her strength in the face of heartbreak wrought by the hands of the Catholic Church – is compelling. Dench is a quiet powerhouse, and she and Coogan are delightful as the unlikely companions. Gorgeously captured scenery underscores the honest human drama. With a screenplay full of heart, the film packs an emotional punch yet never manipulates. It’s beautifully nuanced, moving cinema.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
What’s it about?
Life Magazine’s Walter Mitty works with photo negatives at a time when everything is going digital. He lives beyond his humdrum cubicle walls through a series of elaborate daydreams. When redundancy looms, his existence becomes more fantastic than he ever could have imagined.
What did we think?
Liz says: Stiller’s Mitty is a photo negative in a world of iPads; struggling for relevance but full of potential beauty in and of itself. His transformation from nebbish office worker to fulfilled human was cinematic chicken soup for my soul. The fact I am a journalist staring down the barrel of digital irrelevance myself probably had a little something to do with it, but this film touched me right in the warm fuzzies.
Frozen
What’s it about?
After being orphaned (it’s a Disney movie after all) a pair of contrasting sisters face a world of isolation before a series of events trap the land in an eternal winter. Can the fearless optimist Anna release the icy grip of Anna (loosely based on The Snow Queen)?
What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: Frozen is a delightful return to classic Disney musical animation. It takes the fresh edginess and strong female characters of recent forays (the amazing Tangled and Wreck-Em Ralph) and combines them with the musical nature of The Little Mermaid. The result is a wonderful tale of friendship, family and frivolity. Simply adorable and one for all ages.
On a side note the preceding short ‘Get A Horse’ is simply incredible and an amazing tribute to the then-and-now of Disney.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
What’s it about?
The true story* of a man so bad as a news anchor that he redefines how the news is presented. A heart-breaking tale of a man and a shark**.
*Not really a true story
**There is a shark.
What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: By the hymen of Olivia Newton-John this is a funny movie! If you found my opening remark off-putting, avoid Anchorman 2. It’s just as crass as the first. Just as weird. Just as funny. There’s a touch of Monty Python in the surreal nature of many sequences … speaking of surreal, fans of the original gang violence scene won’t be disappointed.
Thankfully I’m not an avid follower of mainstream pop culture these days, so the myriad of celebrity cameos went straight over my head (although I did recognise Kanye). I’m sure for the hip kids of today, this will add a bonus level of frivolity.
Ender’s Game
What’s it about?
Decades after a brutal attack on the human race by aliens, children are now used as generals to coordinate fleet attacks: their reflexes are faster, their thinking has yet to be stymied by age, and they don’t quite comprehend the concept of death. With a new attack imminent, Earth’s defence forces put their faith in a 9 year-old who appears to be “the one”.
What did we think?
Stephen says: It’s taken over 30 years to get this story onto the big screen, and judging from my friends’ reaction to it (his favourite book from childhood), I can see why. The book is apparently a far more cerebral affair to the movie, which is why its author resisted allowing it to be made for so long.
I’m glad he finally caved in, as Ender’s Game is a rollicking adventure of a young man thrust into greatness (a la Hornblower) … but with a hefty dose of psychological game-play and introspective analysis.
There are spectacular effects, an ending that will leave you gasping, and some pretty hefty concepts to wrap your head around.
American Hustle
What’s it about?
Con-man Irving Rosenfeld (a portly Christian Bale) and his lover (a sexy Amy Adams) are forced to work with unpredictable FBI agent Richie DiMaso (a poodle-permed Bradley Cooper). Things get dangerous as DiMaso pushes them to bring down mafia bosses and beloved senators, and Rosenfeld’s unhinged wife (Jennifer Lawrence) might just blow the whole thing.
What did we think?
Elizabeth says: The 1970s are recreated to dazzling effect with David O. Russell getting the most out of his actors. Every performance is rich and layered, and the rumours are true – Jennifer Lawrence steals every single damn scene she’s in. But – and here’s where I get controversial considering the praise that’s been heaped on the film – I feel like American Hustle was less than the sum of its parts. What film was everyone else watching? I mean it’s pretty good but it’s no masterpiece. It’s like Scorsese’s biggest fan tried to emulate the master and came up short. It’s entertaining, it looks great, but it won’t knock your paisley 1970s socks off.
Sidebar: best supported actress goes to Amy Adams, whose every stunning costume seemed designed to give her a healthy helping of sideboob.
What’s Popular
Suffragette
What’s it about?
Combining both real and fictional characters from the underground suffragette movement of 1912 Britain, Sarah Gavron directs this Abi Morgan-scripted foray into the dirty streets of London women’s harsh fight, depicting the sacrifices so many made to place the first brick in the as-yet unfinished road to equality.
What did we think?
Angela Young says: Carey Mulligan is brilliant as working-class mother Maud Watts, drawn into a fight that sees her lose her job, her family and her home. Other poignant performances from Anne-Marie Duff and Helena Bonham Carter ensure the grim reality of this brutal fight against the state hits you right where it hurts, with certain significant events depicted with powerful reservation. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s still a must-see for anyone that feels they owe so much to the women who gave so much.
In The Heart of the Sea
What’s it about?
Moby-Dick is lauded as one of America’s greatest romantic novels. Herman Melville took his own experiences as a whaler to bring the tragic true story of the Essex to life. This is an interpretation of Melville meeting the sole survivor of the shipwreck, and the dramatic recreation of the fateful voyage.
Segue
Dear Chris Hemsworth fangirls, you keep pining for this film, I do not think it contains what you think it contains*
What did we think?
Ishmael^ says: An epic retelling of one man’s monomania that led to the destruction of a great whaling vessel, and the deaths of most of its crew. The brutality and beauty of whaling is told in vivid realism, with impeccable execution: the broad 1820’s Nantucket accents; the graphic harpooning and gutting of a whale; the impending sense of madness and doom. It just feels a tad bloated – a ye olde saga in an age of 15 second attention-spans.
*It says quite clearly on the poster … “Based on the incredible true story that inspired Moby-Dick”. Not “Chris Hemsworth takes his shirt off and reveals his rock-hard abs”.
^Not really, it’s actually me – Stephen Scott – I just thought, for a lark, that for this one review, you could, you know, call me Ishmael?
By The Sea
What’s it about?
Angelina Jolie Pitt directs herself and her real-life betrothed (Brad Pitt) as they play a disenchanted husband and wife, holidaying by the French coast as he tries to write a new book and she languishes in large hats, resenting the local culture and generally being miserable.
What did we think?
Angela Young says: This film has been prey to a lot of speculation, most of it predicting a big bunch of pretentious self-indulgent wank. Bizarrely, despite the fact that it is indeed, basically a big bunch of pretentious, self-indulgent wank, I rather enjoyed it. The cinematic colour and styling suits its mid-‘70s setting like a glove, and the titillating twist to the story adds a little frisson of excitement, albeit not the greatest of crescendoes. Prepare for lots of moody pouting and sideways glances, and you could just get something out of it too.
Scout’s Guide to the zombie Apocalypse
What’s it about?
Three teenage scouts struggle with unpopularity but when a zombie outbreak occurs they realise that their carefully honed survival skills are just what’s required.
What we thought
Dan says: This “sexy” horror “comedy” starts well. Twenty minutes of character creation and tense moments suddenly unravels as soon as the zombies turn up. A bag full of zombie jokes is plucked from every five minutes throughout the film and who cares what’s been established so far.
This film doesn’t just fail the Bechdel test, it then spends a week sending assault threats to it via Twitter. If I was a 14 year old boy at a slumber party in the late eighties I probably would have loved it but make no mistake, this film is bad. Bad enough to hate watch.
Editor's Choice
Suffragette
What’s it about?
Combining both real and fictional characters from the underground suffragette movement of 1912 Britain, Sarah Gavron directs this Abi Morgan-scripted foray into the dirty streets of London women’s harsh fight, depicting the sacrifices so many made to place the first brick in the as-yet unfinished road to equality.
What did we think?
Angela Young says: Carey Mulligan is brilliant as working-class mother Maud Watts, drawn into a fight that sees her lose her job, her family and her home. Other poignant performances from Anne-Marie Duff and Helena Bonham Carter ensure the grim reality of this brutal fight against the state hits you right where it hurts, with certain significant events depicted with powerful reservation. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s still a must-see for anyone that feels they owe so much to the women who gave so much.
In The Heart of the Sea
What’s it about?
Moby-Dick is lauded as one of America’s greatest romantic novels. Herman Melville took his own experiences as a whaler to bring the tragic true story of the Essex to life. This is an interpretation of Melville meeting the sole survivor of the shipwreck, and the dramatic recreation of the fateful voyage.
Segue
Dear Chris Hemsworth fangirls, you keep pining for this film, I do not think it contains what you think it contains*
What did we think?
Ishmael^ says: An epic retelling of one man’s monomania that led to the destruction of a great whaling vessel, and the deaths of most of its crew. The brutality and beauty of whaling is told in vivid realism, with impeccable execution: the broad 1820’s Nantucket accents; the graphic harpooning and gutting of a whale; the impending sense of madness and doom. It just feels a tad bloated – a ye olde saga in an age of 15 second attention-spans.
*It says quite clearly on the poster … “Based on the incredible true story that inspired Moby-Dick”. Not “Chris Hemsworth takes his shirt off and reveals his rock-hard abs”.
^Not really, it’s actually me – Stephen Scott – I just thought, for a lark, that for this one review, you could, you know, call me Ishmael?
By The Sea
What’s it about?
Angelina Jolie Pitt directs herself and her real-life betrothed (Brad Pitt) as they play a disenchanted husband and wife, holidaying by the French coast as he tries to write a new book and she languishes in large hats, resenting the local culture and generally being miserable.
What did we think?
Angela Young says: This film has been prey to a lot of speculation, most of it predicting a big bunch of pretentious self-indulgent wank. Bizarrely, despite the fact that it is indeed, basically a big bunch of pretentious, self-indulgent wank, I rather enjoyed it. The cinematic colour and styling suits its mid-‘70s setting like a glove, and the titillating twist to the story adds a little frisson of excitement, albeit not the greatest of crescendoes. Prepare for lots of moody pouting and sideways glances, and you could just get something out of it too.
Scout’s Guide to the zombie Apocalypse
What’s it about?
Three teenage scouts struggle with unpopularity but when a zombie outbreak occurs they realise that their carefully honed survival skills are just what’s required.
What we thought
Dan says: This “sexy” horror “comedy” starts well. Twenty minutes of character creation and tense moments suddenly unravels as soon as the zombies turn up. A bag full of zombie jokes is plucked from every five minutes throughout the film and who cares what’s been established so far.
This film doesn’t just fail the Bechdel test, it then spends a week sending assault threats to it via Twitter. If I was a 14 year old boy at a slumber party in the late eighties I probably would have loved it but make no mistake, this film is bad. Bad enough to hate watch.