The Heat
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
It’s a buddy cop movie. With female leads. Sandra Bullock plays a Type A anal FBI agent who teams up with Melissa McCarthy’s foul-mouthed slovenly detective. You know the rest already.
What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: The Heat plays to nearly every buddy-cop stereotype and somehow succeeds in spite of it. The script’s working title was “Female Buddy Cop Movie” which is apparently the reason why Bullock read it. It isn’t high on originality (at all) as the two work their way through cliche after cliche but its rawness does actually manage to elicit laughter. It only works as a parody of the male counterpart movies but in that context it’s entertaining enough.
Epic
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
A teenager finds herself shrunken and transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. So of course she bands together with a rag-tag group characters in order to save their world.
What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: There should be laws against mislabelling a movie like this: Epic is anything but. It’s a visually appealing but overly simplistic story that fails to engage on any real level. Rather forgettable sadly as the potential is there but majorly unrealised. Epic? Fail.
Pacific Rim
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
In the near future, humanity takes its last stand against the interdimensional Kaiju – immense, destructive beasts from beyond the deep – by building equally immense mechas (not robots, thank you) known as Jaegers, which they use to lay the smack down on our would-be conquerors. That is literally all you need to know going in to this film.
What did we think?
Mitch says: Michael Bay wishes he knew how to film giant creatures beating the crap out of each other as well as this. Visually spectacular and possessing a levity, grace and intelligence not commonly found in so many modern “event” movies, Pacific Rim – for all its cheesy dialogue and atrocious Australian accents – is the most fun I’ve had at a blockbuster in years.
Idris Elba and Ron Perlman are highlights on the human side of things, but the show is totally stolen by the gargantuan combatants, beautifully realised and animated as they are. Del Toro and screenwriter Travis Beacham don’t spoon-feed the audience either, nor do they draw things out, and the film is all the richer for it.
Man Of Steel
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
Henry Cavill plays Superman. He searches for meaning. He fights General Zod.
What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: F*** you Snyder.
The Internship
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
Two salesmen (Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson) whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital age find their way into a coveted internship at Google, where they must compete with a group of young, tech-savvy geniuses for a shot at employment.
What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: It’s rare to find an American comedy that doesn’t rely on crudity, bodily functions and adolescent physical comedy so Vaughn and Wilson’s new offering was a pleasant surprise. There are some unexpected but lovely messages flowing throughout the film but it’s really the genuine charisma of the leads that manage to take a comedy that, on paper, looks lightweight and turn into a truly warm movie. More about people than tech though there are nerd jokes and references there for us geeks too.
World War Z
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 12 years ago
What’s it about?
A United Nations investigator, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself.
What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: An odd movie to review in that it was actually sort of enjoyable to watch but as soon as you start to apply scrutiny you’re left unsure exactly why. It’s intelligent (despite some gaping plotholes and devices) but it’s not quite an action movie. Nor is it quite a drama and in fact you couldn’t even call it a horror flick with the zombies mostly background fodder – something I actually enjoyed. But while that allowed focus on the human reactions to a looming apocalypse, it unintentionally highlighted the story’s inadequacies. I can’t say it’s bad as it was fun despite Pitt’s seeming boredom. But nor can I say it’s really good. And I have no idea why it’s a 3D movie.
What’s Popular
The Emperor’s New Clothes
What’s it about?
The rich are getting richer at an astronomical rate.
The poor are getting poorer at a faster rate.
The GFC was created by bankers obsessed with greed and riches.
We, the people, bailed out the banks with trillions of our dollars – putting our nations in debt.
Yet the bank bosses continue to earn over 300 times the wage their cleaners earn.
What do we think?
Stephen Scott says: Have you read the above synopsis or watched the trailer? Then you’ve seen the film. If you don’t know the basic details about how inequality is the basis of capitalism, then go ahead and watch Russell repeat the same thing over and over and over again for an hour and a half, until the last minute when he tells you his piss-poor solution. For a more balanced view, watch a real documentary about the GFC (the ABC’s recent Making Australia Great: Inside Our Longest Boom is an excellent place to start) or read the news instead.
Entourage
What’s it about?
After some time in exile Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) returns to Hollywood to head up a movie studio. Naturally he hands his boy Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) a big fat cheque and a directors chair. When Vinnie needs more cash to complete the movie, everything comes unstuck for Ari.
What do we think?
Casey Moon-Watton says: Exactly as one expects from Entourage the movie starts with loads of beautiful women, and finishes highlighting the importance of surrounding yourself with people whom you care about, and who care about you. As a fan of the show I loved this movie. It was true to the format that worked for so many seasons, made a bunch of in jokes that seemed to go over my fellow reviewers heads, but had me laughing out loud. Ari Gold swearing more celebrities that you can poke a stick at and cameo by Warren Buffet…
Jeremy Piven is by far the stand out performer in this film, playing by far the most likeable character. Excuse me while I disappear into the night chanting “spin off”.
Aloha
What’s it about?
A celebrated military contractor returns to the site of his greatest career triumphs and re-connects with a long-ago love while unexpectedly falling for the hard-charging Air Force watchdog assigned to him.
What did we think?
Angela Bowen says: Despite a very strong cast, Aloha doesn’t have any true weight. The film skims on some serious issues like military, love, and marital issues, but so shallowly that you struggle to care or even know why you are supposed to.The Hawaiian setting is used sparingly and is almost a side note. Aside from Emma Stone’s character repeatedly saying that she is Hawaiian, there is little to remind the audience of what should be a culturally rich location.
Even hard-core Rom Com fans, Bradley fans, or Emma fans may struggle with this one. There are some confusing and unnecessary side plots and a lack of believable chemistry between the characters. Aloha can mean hello or farewell, but I couldn’t wait to use it in the goodbye sense for this fim.
Paper Towns
I admit when I first saw this trailer (the first one) I went out and bought the book the very next day. Now I’m trying to decide if I should read it before the movie or not. On the one hand books are usually better (nearly always) and yet the trailer was that good it possibly deserves to suck me in.
Hmmm.
Editor's Choice
The Emperor’s New Clothes
What’s it about?
The rich are getting richer at an astronomical rate.
The poor are getting poorer at a faster rate.
The GFC was created by bankers obsessed with greed and riches.
We, the people, bailed out the banks with trillions of our dollars – putting our nations in debt.
Yet the bank bosses continue to earn over 300 times the wage their cleaners earn.
What do we think?
Stephen Scott says: Have you read the above synopsis or watched the trailer? Then you’ve seen the film. If you don’t know the basic details about how inequality is the basis of capitalism, then go ahead and watch Russell repeat the same thing over and over and over again for an hour and a half, until the last minute when he tells you his piss-poor solution. For a more balanced view, watch a real documentary about the GFC (the ABC’s recent Making Australia Great: Inside Our Longest Boom is an excellent place to start) or read the news instead.
Entourage
What’s it about?
After some time in exile Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) returns to Hollywood to head up a movie studio. Naturally he hands his boy Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) a big fat cheque and a directors chair. When Vinnie needs more cash to complete the movie, everything comes unstuck for Ari.
What do we think?
Casey Moon-Watton says: Exactly as one expects from Entourage the movie starts with loads of beautiful women, and finishes highlighting the importance of surrounding yourself with people whom you care about, and who care about you. As a fan of the show I loved this movie. It was true to the format that worked for so many seasons, made a bunch of in jokes that seemed to go over my fellow reviewers heads, but had me laughing out loud. Ari Gold swearing more celebrities that you can poke a stick at and cameo by Warren Buffet…
Jeremy Piven is by far the stand out performer in this film, playing by far the most likeable character. Excuse me while I disappear into the night chanting “spin off”.
Aloha
What’s it about?
A celebrated military contractor returns to the site of his greatest career triumphs and re-connects with a long-ago love while unexpectedly falling for the hard-charging Air Force watchdog assigned to him.
What did we think?
Angela Bowen says: Despite a very strong cast, Aloha doesn’t have any true weight. The film skims on some serious issues like military, love, and marital issues, but so shallowly that you struggle to care or even know why you are supposed to.The Hawaiian setting is used sparingly and is almost a side note. Aside from Emma Stone’s character repeatedly saying that she is Hawaiian, there is little to remind the audience of what should be a culturally rich location.
Even hard-core Rom Com fans, Bradley fans, or Emma fans may struggle with this one. There are some confusing and unnecessary side plots and a lack of believable chemistry between the characters. Aloha can mean hello or farewell, but I couldn’t wait to use it in the goodbye sense for this fim.
Paper Towns
I admit when I first saw this trailer (the first one) I went out and bought the book the very next day. Now I’m trying to decide if I should read it before the movie or not. On the one hand books are usually better (nearly always) and yet the trailer was that good it possibly deserves to suck me in.
Hmmm.