Exodus: Gods and Kings
What’s it about?
Egyptian prince Moses (Christian Bale) learns of his heritage with the enslaved Hebrews and leads them to rebel against his former brother, Pharoah Ramses II (Joel Edgerton).
What did we think?
Dominic Barlow says: Ridley Scott, director of Gladiator, attempts to bring both scope and realism to a dull myth that mostly happens outside the characters’ control, and unfortunately doesn’t do enough to change that. There are amazing sets and CGI galore, most appreciated when the plagues of hornets and red river-water sweep through Egypt, but the central conflict of the two brothers is flat and uninteresting. Everyone besides Bale either hams it up (Edgerton, Ben Mendelsohn as a mincing viceroy) or barely registers at all (Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver), making the film unsatisfying even at two-and-a-half hours.
Serena
What’s it about?
Serena (Jennifer Lawrence) is a beautiful but damaged women living in Depression-era South Carolina, swept up in a whirlwind romance by logging company owner George (Bradley Cooper). She will go to any lengths to protect her new-found life and happiness.
What did we think?
Alice Barbery says: It’s worth the price of admission just to watch Jennifer’s performance as Serena. This is a sensual film managing to manoeuvre through a complex plot with engaging style. All sins are paid for in this story and while the characters are flawed they remain sympathetic. In the end there are always consequences for actions, and these ensure audience is satisfied with all outcomes. You’ll leave feeling haunted by such an intimately shared depth of love, grief, desperation and ambition.
Horrible Bosses 2
What’s is about?
Three male entrepreneurs (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis) are scammed out of their own start-up by a slick investor (Christoph Waltz), prompting an attempt to kidnap his hotheaded son (Chris Pine) and use the ransom to keep themselves afloat.
What did we think?
Dominic Barlow says: Terrible, but you’d expect nothing less from the film-maker behind such movies as That’s My Boy and We’re the Millers. When Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis aren’t yabbering at each other, it’s dispensing thuddingly dumb jokes that are sometimes just bold-faced sexism and racism. The caper sequences toward the end have some visual creativity, and the supporting actors (particularly Chris Pine) seem to be having fun, but it’s not nearly enough to make the movie worth seeing.
Men, Women & Children
What’s it about?
In modern-day Texas, three compromised families are fraught with lust, change and despair as they navigate the world found online and off.
What did we think?
Dominic Barlow says: In this soothingly intimate and captivating film, Reitman (the director of Juno and Up in the Air) pulls together various stories in a sincere bid to understand how technology is infused into our lives, by visually representing the characters’ text messages and computer desktops with great flair. His broad approach can sometimes become disaffecting, particularly with a motif involving an intergalactic satellite and narration by Emma Thompson, but his amazing cast of actors (which includes the likes of Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner and Judy Greer) give highly engaging and nuanced performances. It’s unabashedly dramatic, but also quite humorous and much more self-aware than many reviewers give it credit for.
Nightcrawler
What’s it about?
A thief who witnesses an accident starts a business filming incidents and selling them to local news.
What did we think?
Imogen Chapman says: Jake Gylenhaal is excellent at two things: being super beautiful, and playing intense weirdos. He’s serving the latter in Nightcrawler, and it’s definitely one of his creepy best. This is the kind of movie that will make you feel so morally uncomfortable at what you see happening that you’ll need to take a shower. That being said, it’s amazing. It’s the kind of movie that you keep thinking about for days afterwards. I can still kind of feel JG’s giant eyes staring at me…
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One
What’s it about?
Having been thrust into the the spotlight as the reluctant face of the rebellion, Katniss must help inspire others to overthrow the Capitol.
What did we think?
Elizabeth says: It’s all a bit lather, rinse, repeat at this point of the franchise: Katniss looks horrified at something the Capitol did, Katniss gets upset, Katniss channels her upset into anger, Katniss attacks. Katniss looks horrified again, Katniss gets upset again. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. It may have made commercial sense to cut the final book of the trilogy into two parts but it leaves us without the payoff this installment sorely needed. It’s entertaining enough and fans will love it regardless of what anyone says but without it’s predecessors, this mockingjay wouldn’t fly.
What’s Popular
The Great Wall
What’s it about?
European mercenaries make their way to the Orient in search of the super weapon ‘black powder’. They discover a powerful army with just one purpose: defending the world against monsters. But are the true monsters… us?
No. It’s quite obviously the giant green lizard things.
What did we think?
Dan says: This is a film about ideas. The story is pretty average and the character motivations are thin on the ground. The film jumps from design idea to illustration idea and every time it’s dazzling. It’s a bit like flipping through the sketch book of that art geek from high school who would shyly tell you what she’d do if she had access to funding. Well someone got access to funding. They don’t know how to write dialogue but their visual story-telling is epic.
Hidden Figures
What’s it about?
1960’s America was a vortex of social upheaval: apartheid (segregation) was rampant; women’s equality was unimaginable; the space race was nuclear hot; and national pride, if not survival, was at stake. Against all odds, three genii stepped out from the shadows to help NASA realise an impossible dream. Three genii who happened to be black women.
What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: This movie should be compulsory viewing for every man, woman and child. Equality is something many pay lip service to (even today), and while other Oscar-nominated movies show the ugly face of racism via a negative tirade, Hidden Figures lifts you up with a heart-warming, truly accessible story of the little person overcoming insurmountable odds. Inspiring and hopeful.
Incidentally, I never thought I’d see the day where I’d cry watching a man smash a toilet sign off a wall with a crowbar.
Fences
What’s it about?
Life as a black man in 50’s America was hard – you had to fight for every ounce of respect. You are constantly reminded of this by Troy, garbage man and would’ve-been baseball legend (if he had’ve been white).
What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: Adapted from an award winning play, Fences reminds us that before TV enslaved us, people talked to each other for entertainment. They talked & they talked & they talked & they talked. And they talked really fast. They talked about mundane things. About important things. About daily grind. About judgement. About being a black man in a white world. Really fast. A lot.
Talking fast makes Shakespeare natural sounding (a basic rule for theatre productions), and Fences feels like they filmed a theatre show then CGI’ed realistic backgrounds in to make it a movie. It’s blocky. It’s talky. It’s a play made into a film. It’s a beautifully made play made into a film with exceptional acting. But it focuses on style rather than the story. Almost as if it was made to get people nominated for award shows.
A Street Cat Named Bob
What’s it about?
A recovering heroin addict uses up five of his nine lives when he survives an overdose, gets a leg-up from a case-worker/guardian angel, meets a girl who might help him straighten out his life, tries to reconnect with his father, and is adopted by a street cat.
What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: Homelessness and drug addiction go hand in hand; and this story opens your eyes to what happens on the other side of the tracks, and just how incredibly hard it is to get a second chance. Whilst a little clunky in its telling, the emotional connection of this harrowing, yet heartwarming story will leave you with a tear in your eye, and the knowledge that cats are indeed the best people.
Editor's Choice
The Great Wall
What’s it about?
European mercenaries make their way to the Orient in search of the super weapon ‘black powder’. They discover a powerful army with just one purpose: defending the world against monsters. But are the true monsters… us?
No. It’s quite obviously the giant green lizard things.
What did we think?
Dan says: This is a film about ideas. The story is pretty average and the character motivations are thin on the ground. The film jumps from design idea to illustration idea and every time it’s dazzling. It’s a bit like flipping through the sketch book of that art geek from high school who would shyly tell you what she’d do if she had access to funding. Well someone got access to funding. They don’t know how to write dialogue but their visual story-telling is epic.
Hidden Figures
What’s it about?
1960’s America was a vortex of social upheaval: apartheid (segregation) was rampant; women’s equality was unimaginable; the space race was nuclear hot; and national pride, if not survival, was at stake. Against all odds, three genii stepped out from the shadows to help NASA realise an impossible dream. Three genii who happened to be black women.
What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: This movie should be compulsory viewing for every man, woman and child. Equality is something many pay lip service to (even today), and while other Oscar-nominated movies show the ugly face of racism via a negative tirade, Hidden Figures lifts you up with a heart-warming, truly accessible story of the little person overcoming insurmountable odds. Inspiring and hopeful.
Incidentally, I never thought I’d see the day where I’d cry watching a man smash a toilet sign off a wall with a crowbar.
Fences
What’s it about?
Life as a black man in 50’s America was hard – you had to fight for every ounce of respect. You are constantly reminded of this by Troy, garbage man and would’ve-been baseball legend (if he had’ve been white).
What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: Adapted from an award winning play, Fences reminds us that before TV enslaved us, people talked to each other for entertainment. They talked & they talked & they talked & they talked. And they talked really fast. They talked about mundane things. About important things. About daily grind. About judgement. About being a black man in a white world. Really fast. A lot.
Talking fast makes Shakespeare natural sounding (a basic rule for theatre productions), and Fences feels like they filmed a theatre show then CGI’ed realistic backgrounds in to make it a movie. It’s blocky. It’s talky. It’s a play made into a film. It’s a beautifully made play made into a film with exceptional acting. But it focuses on style rather than the story. Almost as if it was made to get people nominated for award shows.
A Street Cat Named Bob
What’s it about?
A recovering heroin addict uses up five of his nine lives when he survives an overdose, gets a leg-up from a case-worker/guardian angel, meets a girl who might help him straighten out his life, tries to reconnect with his father, and is adopted by a street cat.
What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: Homelessness and drug addiction go hand in hand; and this story opens your eyes to what happens on the other side of the tracks, and just how incredibly hard it is to get a second chance. Whilst a little clunky in its telling, the emotional connection of this harrowing, yet heartwarming story will leave you with a tear in your eye, and the knowledge that cats are indeed the best people.