Weekly Review Round Up 3rd March 2013

THIS WEEK'S PREVIEWS

This is a big week of reviews because I skipped last week. Well, I had a lot of movies to watch didn't I.  So, you've got double the films to explore and double the fabulous reviews to read and enjoy and share with your friends.

 

(My movie Pick of the week)

Cloud Atlas ★★★★^½
Opens in Australia: 28th February 2013
Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

A few people warned me that this film was a little confusing. There is a lot of time-jumping back and forth. However, those people who said this, had actually watched a pirated version. 
           So, I will say this: if you are watching a copy of it, yes, it would be confusing. The studio purposely puts a confusion virus in those versions. You are best off seeing it at the cinema on the BIG screen as it is intended to be seen. In the cinema you experience full immersion in the story, uninterrupted. So you can concentrate and think on the universal and intellectual messages conveyed.

This is a sweeping drama (putting it mildly) and the acting is quite extraordinary as the talented thespians take on many roles over many different times. For cinephiles, like me, it is good fun trying to pick who is who.

And since I’ve mentioned pirating, you do realise you are not setting a good example for the kiddies? And what if they decide to be an actor, director, production assistant, writer, video game producer, how are they going to earn a living if nobody pays to use or see their stuff?

Thank you. I shall now get down off my soap-box.

STUDIO BLURB
           Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave dramatically through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. Each member of the ensemble appears in multiple roles as the stories move through time. -- (C) Warner Bros

The Paperboy ★★★★

Opens in Australia: 28th February 2013
Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

You will either love this or hate it. I doubt there will be any emotion between those two. I loved it. It is a fascinating piece, well paced and you really don’t know where it’s going until the shocking climax. It really riles me to see the cast of Silver Linings Playbook receive all these award nominations when this movie is a thousand miles superior and the performances are juicy and sublime. Nicole Kidman, who I don’t usually love, although I like her very much as a person, really gives it her all and is wonderful. And Zac Efron shows he can really bring it — a little dancing here for him but of the creepy kind. Make up your own mind with this one but if you are a cinephile I think you will appreciate. I really want to read the book.

STUDIO BLURB

A sexually and racially charged film noir from Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels (Precious), The Paperboy takes audiences deep into the backwaters of steamy 1960s South Florida, as investigative reporter Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) and his partner Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) chase a sensational, career-making story. With the help of Ward's younger brother Jack (Zac Efron) and sultry death-row groupie Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman), the pair tries to prove violent swamp-dweller Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) was framed for the murder of a corrupt local sheriff. Based on the provocative bestselling novel by Pete Dexter (Mulholland Falls, Rush), The Paperboy peels back a sleepy small town's decades-old façade of Southern gentility to reveal a quagmire of evil as dark as a Florida bayou. -- (C) Official Site

Beautiful Creatures ★★★★
Opens in Australia: 21st February 2013
Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

Now this is quite a good film.  I don't like Urban Fantasy books or films. Anything where vampires, witches and werewolves are kissy and cuddly leaves me cold.  I prefer my denizens of the night savage and blood-thirsty.  But this one delivered to its audience (which isn't me) but it has a great deal of sophistication and a good story-line. This series I can tolerate for five films, whereas Twilight was causing me to seriously consider the old needles in the eye diversion.  All fans of romantic supernaturals go see it and I am sure they will make even more for you. Good one for Mum's and daughters. 
My full review here...Beautiful Creatures Review -  "Love is Magical"

STUDIO BLURB

A supernatural love story set in the South, "Beautiful Creatures" tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers: Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), a young man longing to escape his small town, and Lena (Alice Englert), a mysterious new girl. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town. (c) WB

Amour ★^½

Opens in Australia: 21st February 2013
Other Countries: Release Information

LOTTERY WEST FILMS

Showing: SHOWING IN PERTH at Lotterywest Festival Film Season
Somerville 25^thFeb-3^rd March, 8pm Joondalup Pines 5^th-10^th March, 8pm

OUR THOUGHTS

This film won best Oscar for a Foreign Film recently, so I was excited to see it. However, I found it an agonising experience. Yes, there are great performances but so what? We endure two hours of elderly people washing up, talking about nothing, sleeping, cleaning, playing a piano, walking incredibly slowly across a room - and back again. It’s too true to life for me, I am afraid. I know a lot of reviewers are giving this 5/5 stars but, sorry, I was unmoved. Although I did have a very strong urge to move out of the screening.

However, if you are in Perth, Western Australia you should still attend one of Lotterywest Festival films at Somerville or Joondalup Pines. If you are going to be bored to death, that is the best place to do it. A lovely setting.

STUDIO BLURB

Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple's bond of love is severely tested. -- (C) Official Site

Side Effects ★★★
Opens in Australia: 28^th February 2013
Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

This film will surprise you. It starts off as one thing, a commentary on the dangers and incestuous behaviour in the pharmaceutical industry and ends up becoming a thriller. Rooney Mara as the depressed woman who gets more than she bargained for after taking a new anti-depressant is quite remarkable. She was astonishing in Girl With A Dragon Tattoo and this film was elevated thanks to her too. However, I have seen this all before and the last third is very nineties. I won’t name the many films that have used this plot twist because it will give it all away but it felt like I’d seen it all before and probably a little better. However, most cinema goers won’t have seen it all before so this one is worthy of your dollar.

STUDIO BLURB

SIDE EFFECTS is a provocative thriller about Emily and Martin (Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum), a successful New York couple whose world unravels when a new drug prescribed by Emily's psychiatrist (Jude Law) - intended to treat anxiety - has unexpected side effects. (c) Official FB

The Imposter ★★★^½

Opens in Australia: 21st February 2013
Other Countries: Release Information
PERTH FILM LOVERS: Now showing at http://www.lunapalace.com.au/

OUR THOUGHTS

How incredible is this story?  This is an interesting documentary.  However, it is not as compelling as it could be and it certainly leaves many questions at the end that the filmmakers had hinted they would answer.  It's a study in damaged human beings from the imposter to the family who lost their child.  The whole thing is very strange. 

STUDIO BLURB

Nicholas was 13 the day he disappeared (June 13, 1994). He would have been 16 and 8 months when he was reported found in Spain (October 7, 1997)... In 1994 a 13-year-old boy disappears without a trace from San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later he is found alive, thousands of miles away in a village in southern Spain with a story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems. The boy bears many of the same distinguishing marks he always had, but why does he now have a strange accent? Why does he look so different? And why doesn't the family seem to notice these glaring inconsistencies? It's only when an investigator starts asking questions that this strange tale takes an even stranger turn... -- (C) Indomina

 

Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir ★★★^½
Opens in Australia: 21st February 2013
Other Countries:  RELEASE DETAILS
PERTH FILM LOVERS: Now showing at http://www.lunapalace.com.au/

OUR THOUGHTS

Roman Polanski is one of my favourite Directors.  I have grown up with his films.  Yes, I know, a strange childhood for sure. If you love your film, then this is a fascinating insight into a great Director.  What a tragic life he has led, full of more drama than his films.  I know he has been a naughty boy in the distant past (all the trouble in the States) but I love him even more after this film. 

STUDIO BLURB

The documentary ROMAN POLANSKI: A FILM MEMOIR tells the extraordinary story of Roman Polanski’s life, beginning with his childhood in the Cracow ghetto, his first films in Poland, the move to Paris, his career in Europe and America, crowned with an Oscar for THE PIANIST, the tragedy of the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate in Los Angeles, the controversy surrounding his arrest in 1977, through to his work and life today in France with his wife Emmanuelle Seigner.

The conversations were recorded during Roman Polanski‘s stay in his home in Gstaad where he was house arrest for several months after he was apprehended on his way to the Zurich Film Festival in 2009. The film premiered at the Zurich Film Festival in 2011.
 

Cirque Soleil Worlds Away★★^½
Opens in Australia: 21st February 2013
Other Countries: Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS

Jeopardy question: What is a disappointment? This film. For so called visionary filmmakers James Cameron and Andrew Adamson its not very good. They have really made quite a plodding ninety minutes from what is arguably one of the most spectacular live performances you could ever attend. I found the central couple quite creepy as well. Really, it is too up close and personal. Seeing all the wires and close shots at the loss of the spectacular wide co-ordinated shots ruins this experience. The kids were bored and I tried terribly hard to like it and there is some wonderful moments but they are rare. I’ve seen two live Cirque du Soleil’s and this is the very poor cousin probably not worth your dollars. Save up for the real thing.

STUDIO BLURB

From the big top to the big screen, visionary filmmaker James Cameron and director Andrew Adamson (Shrek, Narnia) invite you and your family on an all new 3D adventure: Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away. A young couple who is separated, must journey through the astonishing and dreamlike worlds of Cirque du Soleil to find each other, as audiences experience the immersive 3D technology that will allow them to leap, soar, swim, and dance with the performers. This Holiday Season, Cirque du Soleil brings their world to your city! -- (C) Paramount

What have you seen this week? Did you find our comments helpful or do you disagree? Share your thoughts with us.