The Woman In Black
Posted February 22, 2012 5:56 pm
Susan Hill’s long running and critically acclaimed play comes to the big screen courtesy of director James Watkins and screenwriter Jane Goldman – with positive results. Widow Arthur (Daniel Radcliffe) is sent to take care of a deceased lady’s estate, but is met by unfriendly locals who are only too keen to get rid of [...]
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance
Posted 10:35 am
The plot, should you care (I didn’t) involves Ghost Rider protecting some kid who is about to be taken by the Devil. It’s bobbins. Like the first film, a derivative story hampered by weak characters and uniformly terrible acting. However, for all its narrative flaws the effects – especially the flaming Ghost Rider – are [...]
Miss Bala
Posted 10:22 am
Laura (Stephanie Sigman) dreams of being a beauty queen but her world is turned upside down after she and her friend Suzu are caught up in a shootout in a club. Laura escapes but is captured by gang leader Lino who wants to use her as their errand girl. Don’t be fooled by the trailer, [...]
The Coffin
Posted February 16, 2012 10:21 am
This multi-lingual horror is based on an intriguing Thai custom of lying in a coffin to rid oneself of bad luck. Cancer-stricken Sue (Karen Mok) makes a miraculous recovery after doing so suffers hallucinations and her fiance is then killed in an accident… her investigation leads her to Chris (Ananda Everingham) who was also haunted [...]
Welcome To The Rileys
Posted February 15, 2012 12:00 am
A married couple have a fragmented relationship since their daughter died in a car accident; he (James Gandolfini) seeks solace in the arms of a waitress whilst she (Melissa Leo) is now agoraphobic. I was about ready to switch this sombre drama off after 20mins but then he meets a stripper (Kristen Stewart) when in [...]
Evidence
Posted February 13, 2012 1:29 am
Ryan wants to make a documentary about his friend Brett as they – and their girlfriends – go camping. Once out in the countryside they hear strange noises and spy something weird in the wilderness… A late entry into the found-footage genre (wait, come back!) Evidence is one of the rare examples that works effectively [...]
X: Night Of Vengeance
Posted February 11, 2012 12:01 am
Holly is a seasoned pro, taking one last job before escaping to Paris. Shay is a young runaway, just arrived in Sydney and new to the business. Their paths collide as Holly needs a partner for her latest client, and the pair witness a murder which sets in motion a frantic chase through the streets [...]
Tomie: Unlimited
Posted February 10, 2012 11:52 pm
Tomie is perfect, she has everything that her sister Tsukiko doesn’t. Then she’s tragically killed. One year later there’s a knock at the door and Tomie is back – her parents welcome her back with open arms but Tsukiko is suspicious, and rightly so… I’ll be honest, despite a promising start I really didn’t get [...]
The Grey
Posted February 9, 2012 6:39 pm
A bunch of oil-riggers are involved in a plane crash in Alaska. Stranded in the freezing snow, their plight worsens when they realise a pack of hungry wolves are not happy to see them. With wolf-wrangler Ottway (Liam Neeson) gruffly taking charge, the survivors do what they can to stay alive as the animals – [...]
Chronicle
Posted 6:28 pm
Three high school lads find something down a hole and suddenly develop telekinesis and the ability to fly. As they master their new powers they play some harmless pranks on each other, but things escalate and get serious when one of them causes a car accident in a fit of rage. The concept of Chronicle [...]
The Sorcerer And The White Snake
Posted 12:23 pm
Based on the Chinese legend, a herbalist falls in love with a mysterious young woman who saves him from drowning. Except unbeknownst to him, she is actually an ancient white snake in human form, and Abbot Fahai (Jet Li) and his demon slaying monks are on her trail! The Sorcerer And The White Snake is [...]
Retreat
Posted 10:50 am
Martin (Cillian Murphy) and wife Kate (Thandie Newton) head to a remote island home to try and patch up their marriage, but their break is shattered by the arrival of an injured soldier (Jamie Bell). What he tells them is unbelievable… or is it? This low key thriller marks a promising debut for director Carl [...]
Our Idiot Brother
Posted February 8, 2012 4:08 pm
Ned (Paul Rudd) is a happy-go-lucky, very trusting – some would say naive – kinda guy (like Earl from My Name Is Earl) who imposes himself on his three sisters having been released from jail and dumped by his girlfriend. As Ned looks to rebuild his life – and steal his dog, Willie Nelson, back [...]
Hindsight
Posted 3:42 pm
Doo-heon is a former gangster who wants a quiet retirement running his own restuarant. He meets pretty young Se-bin on a cooking course, and the two become friends, unaware that she is a former sniper champ who has been tasked with the job of watching him by a rival gang. When Doo-heon’s boss dies and [...]
Red Dog
Posted January 21, 2012 2:45 am
Loosely based on the true story of the Aussie legend ‘Red Dog’, a mutt who inspired and united the mining community of Dampier and travelled the country in search of his master in the 1970s. The film adaptation – from a short novel by Louis de Bernières – is family friendly, full of warm humour [...]
The Darkest Hour
Posted January 15, 2012 1:37 am
Two website entrepreneurs go to Moscow, get screwed over, meet a couple of girls in a bar – plus the guy who screwed them over – and then aliens invade. Kind of invisible mineral-hungry aliens that conduct electricity and disintegrate humans by touch. Yes, it’s undeniably silly but unashamedly so, which makes it actually quite [...]
Warrior
Posted January 13, 2012 1:22 am
Tommy (Tom Hardy) returns home to train for a mixed martial arts tournament, enlisting his father (Nick Nolte) as his coach. Meanwhile his estranged brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton), a physics teacher, is struggling financially and also fancies a return to the cage… so steering the two brothers on a collision course. You know what the [...]
Yamada: Way Of The Samurai
Posted January 10, 2012 12:36 am
Loosely (very loosely, I’d venture) inspired by a real historic figure, Yamada (Seigi Ozeki) is a Japanese warrior in Ayothaya, Thailand, who learns muay thai martial arts and becomes King Naresuan’s bodyguard. This Thai production goes to great lengths to celebrate relations between Thailand and Japan at the expense of creating anything like an engaging [...]
Tyrannosaur
Posted 12:24 am
Joseph (Peter Mullan) appears to be a bit of a c***. He kicks his dog to death, gets drunk, gets into scraps and seems to be on a downward spiral until he meets charity shop worker Hannah (Olivia Colman). Hannah has problems of her own with an abusive husband, and the two damaged souls form [...]
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Posted December 29, 2011 8:51 pm
Investigative journalist (Daniel Craig) is hired by elderly businessman to find out what happened to his niece who disappeared in 1966, aided by a sexually abused hacker (Rooney Mara). Fincher’s take on Steig Larsson’s novel remains faithful to its source (bar one slight change towards the finale) and is an effective and suitably dark thriller. [...]
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Posted December 28, 2011 11:26 am
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) returns to lead a team to stop a madman called Hendricks who has his hands on some nuclear launch codes – alas the IMF have been blamed for a bombing at the Kremlin, so Hunt and his team are on the run themselves. The MI franchise has always been the Tom [...]
War Horse
Posted December 27, 2011 6:45 pm
Sadly not a tale about Geordie brothels (although you may still need a hankie), War Horse is the tale of farm boy Albert and his horse Joey. We see the bond between the two as Albert trains Joey, and the heartbreak as Joey is sold to be used by the troops in the first World [...]
3D Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy
Posted December 24, 2011 8:02 pm
This 3D reboot of the Sex And Zen series follows Wei, newly married to Yuxiang, as he attempts to boost his sexual prowess. Having visited the Prince of Ning’s pavilion (a glorified brothel), he then takes off with the androgynous Elder of Ultimate Bliss – and looks set to lose Yuxiang forever. The camp silliness [...]
Prisoner 701 Sasori
Posted December 20, 2011 1:12 pm
An updated version of the 70′s Female Convict Scorpion film, a real Japanese cult favourite, Sasori finds Nami (Miki Mizuno – seen recently in Guilty Of Romance) imprisoned after being made to kill her fiance’s sister. Having been brutalised by her fellow inmates, Nami fights back, escapes, trains as a killing machine and then seeks [...]
The Lady
Posted December 19, 2011 9:19 pm
Luc Besson’s biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi (played here by Michelle Yeoh) focuses on her return to Burma to look after her sick mother, and her subsequent rise to prominence as leader of the National League for Democracy, seeking to change the country’s oppressive regime of military rule. Despite her party winning the support [...]
Killer Elite
Posted December 18, 2011 5:43 pm
Inspired by true events, as documented by Sir Ranulph Fiennes in his novel The Feathermen, Killer Elite focuses upon hitman Danny (Jason Statham) and his associates as they are blackmailed to assassinate the secret service men who killed a wealthy Sheik’s three sons. This culminates with Danny facing off to an ex-SAS man (Clive Owen), [...]
Colombiana
Posted December 16, 2011 9:14 pm
Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) watched her parents murdered when she was 9 years old. Fleeing to Chicago she trains as a killer under the watchful eye of her Uncle, but her motive is to wreak revenge on the mobsters who killed her family. Another action thriller from Luc Besson (rewriting Leon yet again) and directed by [...]
The Mechanic
Posted 9:02 pm
Bishop (Jason Statham) is a contract killer, dismayed to discover his next target is his old mentor, Harry (Donald Sutherland). Later Bishop reluctantly agrees to take Harry’s son (Ben Foster) under his wing and the two team up… but naturally Bishop’s dirty secret doesn’t stay buried for long. The Mechanic is an efficient action thriller [...]
