Frankenweenie
What’s it about?
A heartwarming tale about a boy and his dog. His dead dog.
What did we think?
Liz says: A return to the terrifically twisted kookiness of vintage Tim Burton. Based on a live-action short from 1984, this delightfully dark flick pays homage to classic schlock horror movies using Burton’s iconic stop-motion animation and eerily cute designs. Not sure the 3D added much and the ending didn’t quite ring true but it’s an enjoyable ride fans will welcome. Restricting the film to black and white lends a macabre, attractively moldy atmosphere that almost erases some of Burton’s overly colourful missteps into the mainstream during the past few years. The Halloween partner to Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, it’s sure to gently thrill the youngster in those old enough to remember comic-book ads for Sea Monkeys.
Savages
What’s it about?
A couple of Californian drug dealers and their shared girlfriend face a hostile takeover of their Laguna Beach drug business by a brutal Mexican cartel.
What did we think?
Lisa says: With an interesting-in-theory plotline and strong performances from supporting players, Savages could have been much better.
Instead, the film suffered from shallow performances from the three leads, an over-reliance on cringe-worthy narration, and a serious lack of decisive direction to the point where two alternate endings were included (and neither of them was much good).
Only bother if you’re in the mood to watch pretty people doing violent things.
What’s it about?
It has been five years since the disappearance of Katie and Hunter, and a suburban family witness strange events in their neighborhood when a woman and a mysterious child move in.
What did we think?
Having played every one of their suspense tricks in the first three instalments, the Paranormal Activity franchise takes a different tack in the fourth by turning it into a game. With viewers now expecting subtle movement in the peripheries, the makers taunt us with long shots to get the audience guessing what (if anything) will happen. Surprisingly it works well especially with a few added laughs.
Nowhere near as scary as any of the first three, it’s an okay addition but doesn’t auger well for a fifth.
Killing them softly
What’s it about?
A professional enforcer reacts to a heist that went down during a mob-protected poker game.
What did Anthony think?
An anti-American film masquerading as pseudo-intellectual bullsh**. Painfully slow and mostly pointless, this arthouse-wannabe all seems to be one drawn-out set-up for the last few lines of the movie. Five-star cast, one-star movie.
Lawless
What’s it about?
Based on the true story of three “indestructible” brothers beating the depression by brewing the best moonshine in Virginia … and waging a war with a hypocritical corrupt cop.
What did we think?
Stephen says: There’s a lot to like about Lawless. But there’d be a lot more to like with some better editing in the first half – it drags like a tarred and feathered redneck being pulled behind a pick-up truck. Once it picks up, you’re in for an engaging tale of a boy becoming a man in a brutal world.
Shia LaBeouf and Guy Pearce must have wet their pants when they read Nick Cave’s script – their roles are actors’ dreams come true. There’s cussin’ and graphic violence and smokin’ and gun-totin’ gangsters and graphic violence and creepy corrupt cops and friendships broken and love found and graphic violence and graphic violence. Exactly what you want from underdog heroes battling the seedy underbelly of corruption.
Looper
What’s it about?
In a future where time travel has been invented, mob bosses send their enemies back to the past to be killed by “loopers”. Joe lives the high life eliminating whomever the mob bosses send back, no questions asked. Which works fine, until they send future-Joe back to be disposed of… and he escapes.
What did we think?
Elizabeth says: A taut, well-paced thrill ride, this feels like one of the freshest takes on the whole time travel schtick in a long time. The script sets up the sci-fi premise of the tale, before cleverly a shifting the focus onto the characters, giving Looper an emotional weight I wasn’t expecting. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a great young Bruce Willis, and Bruce Willis plays a great old Bruce Willis. And who doesn’t love Bruce Willis? Serious acting props also have to go to the creepy kid (Pierce Gagnon).
It doesn’t pay to look too closely at the logic behind this flick; there are holes in the time travel theory and thinking about them may make your brain explode. But really, when a movie is this entertaining, who gives a damn about logic?
What’s Popular
Paper Planes
What’s it about?
Dylan and his father are both stuck in a rut, searching for some sort of escape from their demons. When Dylan discovers a flair for paper plane construction he’s encouraged to participate in the national paper plane heats.
What we thought
Dan says: You’ve seen this film before with ice hockey (Mighty Ducks), lawn bowls (Crackerjack), golf (Tin Cup), karate (Karate Kid), the list goes on and on. I’m a sucker for this tale no matter how many times it’s told and so it was that I was disappointing to find myself checking my watch only thirty minutes in. The writing and the filmmaking is below par and feels like the very worst episodes of Secret Valley. The actors flail through the woeful dialogue as best they can but there’s little chance of saving it. Deborah Mailman and David Wenham are criminally underused.
You’ll find yourself rolling your eyes more than once and the worst part is that there’s some really nice moments hidden away here. Ed Oxbould and Sam Worthington do a beautiful job and a few more rewrites could have picked this up and out of the mud.
Appropriately, his film has wings, but no steering.
Unbroken
What’s it about?
Unbroken follows the life of Louis “Louie” Zamperini, from running at the 1936 Olympic games at Berlin to being interned at a Japanese prison camp during World War 2.
What did we think?
Unbroken opens strong with a thrilling dogfight. The speed of the plane, the sudden sprays of bullets and the massive drop to the ocean below are almost palpable. It’s a shame that the rest of the film doesn’t follow this lead. Hamstrung by an uninspired script (despite being co-written by the Coen Brothers) director Angelina Jolie focuses on Zamperini’s physical torment, namely his being punched in the head many, many times. It makes for a grueling film that fails to reward the viewer. Any attempt at exploring Zamperini’s internal life or the moral complexities of war are studiously avoided. The prison warden, for example, is an offensive cliché of the inscrutable and effeminate Asian man. Unbroken may be Jolie’s love song to Zamperini, who died this year, but in its reluctance to describe the mental and spiritual tolls of war, the film’s messages about self-belief and forgiveness lack impact.
Into The Woods
What’s it about?
Several of your favourite fairytale characters find their happy ever after, before everything gets sent to hell in a handbasket once they realise that fairytale endings aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
What did we think?
Susan Hetherington says: At times laugh-out-loud funny at others “where’s-my-tissue” sad, this is a grown-ups fairytale with a strong message about being careful what you wish for and whether happily ever after is possible with someone you have known for 2.5 seconds.
Fans of the stage show may shed a tear that the adaptation has dropped the second double act between the Charming prince brothers (Agony, the over-the-top duet which included just about every cinematic cliché was the funniest point in the film) but overall it was a very satisfying translation from stage to screen. It would be nice to think Into the Woods the film will springboard composer Stephen Sondheim into the musical theatre limelight alongside the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber. It probably won’t. In fact the 15 minute opening overture will probably be enough to ensure some never again give a musical a try. But anyone who can see past that will see an intelligent tale that’s been well told and extremely well acted. They will almost certainly also have the Into the Woods earworm in their head for some time to come.
Birdman
What’s it about?
Riggan Thomas (Michael Keaton) spent his younger years appearing as Birdman in a series of superhero films. Firmly entrenched in “washed-up has-been” territory, he decides to put on a Broadway show to try to prove himself to the world. But his play has serious problems, his cast (including Edward Norton and Naomi Watts) is dysfunctional, and his own mental state is probably not all that crash-hot either.
What did we think?
Elizabeth Best says: If Birdman is Michael trying to prove himself following his Batman days, then boy, has he succeeded. This is a brilliantly intriguing, very black comedy and, if you listen really hard, we’re pretty sure you can hear “Oscar” being whispered in the background.
Editor's Choice
Paper Planes
What’s it about?
Dylan and his father are both stuck in a rut, searching for some sort of escape from their demons. When Dylan discovers a flair for paper plane construction he’s encouraged to participate in the national paper plane heats.
What we thought
Dan says: You’ve seen this film before with ice hockey (Mighty Ducks), lawn bowls (Crackerjack), golf (Tin Cup), karate (Karate Kid), the list goes on and on. I’m a sucker for this tale no matter how many times it’s told and so it was that I was disappointing to find myself checking my watch only thirty minutes in. The writing and the filmmaking is below par and feels like the very worst episodes of Secret Valley. The actors flail through the woeful dialogue as best they can but there’s little chance of saving it. Deborah Mailman and David Wenham are criminally underused.
You’ll find yourself rolling your eyes more than once and the worst part is that there’s some really nice moments hidden away here. Ed Oxbould and Sam Worthington do a beautiful job and a few more rewrites could have picked this up and out of the mud.
Appropriately, his film has wings, but no steering.
Unbroken
What’s it about?
Unbroken follows the life of Louis “Louie” Zamperini, from running at the 1936 Olympic games at Berlin to being interned at a Japanese prison camp during World War 2.
What did we think?
Unbroken opens strong with a thrilling dogfight. The speed of the plane, the sudden sprays of bullets and the massive drop to the ocean below are almost palpable. It’s a shame that the rest of the film doesn’t follow this lead. Hamstrung by an uninspired script (despite being co-written by the Coen Brothers) director Angelina Jolie focuses on Zamperini’s physical torment, namely his being punched in the head many, many times. It makes for a grueling film that fails to reward the viewer. Any attempt at exploring Zamperini’s internal life or the moral complexities of war are studiously avoided. The prison warden, for example, is an offensive cliché of the inscrutable and effeminate Asian man. Unbroken may be Jolie’s love song to Zamperini, who died this year, but in its reluctance to describe the mental and spiritual tolls of war, the film’s messages about self-belief and forgiveness lack impact.
Into The Woods
What’s it about?
Several of your favourite fairytale characters find their happy ever after, before everything gets sent to hell in a handbasket once they realise that fairytale endings aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
What did we think?
Susan Hetherington says: At times laugh-out-loud funny at others “where’s-my-tissue” sad, this is a grown-ups fairytale with a strong message about being careful what you wish for and whether happily ever after is possible with someone you have known for 2.5 seconds.
Fans of the stage show may shed a tear that the adaptation has dropped the second double act between the Charming prince brothers (Agony, the over-the-top duet which included just about every cinematic cliché was the funniest point in the film) but overall it was a very satisfying translation from stage to screen. It would be nice to think Into the Woods the film will springboard composer Stephen Sondheim into the musical theatre limelight alongside the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber. It probably won’t. In fact the 15 minute opening overture will probably be enough to ensure some never again give a musical a try. But anyone who can see past that will see an intelligent tale that’s been well told and extremely well acted. They will almost certainly also have the Into the Woods earworm in their head for some time to come.
Birdman
What’s it about?
Riggan Thomas (Michael Keaton) spent his younger years appearing as Birdman in a series of superhero films. Firmly entrenched in “washed-up has-been” territory, he decides to put on a Broadway show to try to prove himself to the world. But his play has serious problems, his cast (including Edward Norton and Naomi Watts) is dysfunctional, and his own mental state is probably not all that crash-hot either.
What did we think?
Elizabeth Best says: If Birdman is Michael trying to prove himself following his Batman days, then boy, has he succeeded. This is a brilliantly intriguing, very black comedy and, if you listen really hard, we’re pretty sure you can hear “Oscar” being whispered in the background.