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Rings | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A good, polished spookster for most of its duration, it's the killer ending that makes the film truly pop. It's a good example of how the final few seconds of a film can lift it several notches above the routine. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
I'm So Excited! | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Think Flying High with a gay cabin crew and no laughs...The story has most of the plane's passengers rendered unconscious, presumably by showing I'm So Excited as the in-flight movie. | 1/5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | true | 2 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
TinkerBell and the Legend of the NeverBeast | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Beautifully produced and relentlessly paced, the films work as wonderful, empowering little fables about friendship, teamwork, community and trust...it's hard to fault Neverbeast as great, value-added entertainment for kids. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Expendables 2 | 3AW | Jim Schembri | It's cheesy, fun, disposable action pap on a big scale - but, boy, is it lazy. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Logan | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The film pulls out all the stops to deliver an emotionally and viscerally satisfying experience. It works so well it easily qualifies as the best movie of the entire X-Men franchise as well as one of the best in the increasingly tired superhero genre. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
How I Live Now | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The film's well-judged moments of horror and violence are charged with terror and moral abandon, perfect counterpoints to the safety and security Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) is seeking for herself and her petrified little cousin. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Miss Americana | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Those who ever doubted Swift's talent, smarts or conviction will find this chronicle eye-opening and extremely entertaining, especially when she's not singing or talking about music. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Unfinished Business | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Vince Vaughn's usual motormouth appeal gets stuck in first gear in a muddled, patchy business comedy. | 2/5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | true | 4 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Bad Moms | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The chemistry between a struggling career woman (Milas Kunis), a compliant wallflower (Kristen Bell) and a man eater (Kathryn Hahn) turns what could have been another women-behaving-badly knock-off into comedy gold | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
A Monster in Paris | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Lovely French animated period comedy offers a monster story with a charming difference... A flighty, enjoyable confection and very pretty to look at. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Gravity | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Breathlessly paced with a procession of nerve-racking cliffhanger moment, Gravity is not just one of the best films about humans in space, it's one of the most tense tales about the power of the survival instinct. | 5/5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | true | 10 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Locke | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Fabulous, mesmerising one-man movie, Tom Hardy puts in a tour de force performance [as] a man desperate not to submit to desperation. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A whirlwind comedy of absurdist humour, zany happenstance and good old slapstick. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Dramatically, the film does pull some great aces from up its sleeve...The film also proves what a lot of Star Wars fans have long suspected - that the best thing that could happen to Star Wars would be to take George Lucas out of it. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Kid Who Would Be King | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A strong anti-bullying theme helps spice a nifty, FX-driven kid's adventure. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
All Is Lost | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Superb, a brilliantly conceived, first-person masterpiece, totally immersive and compelling from first frame to last. It's easily one of the best survival films ever made, even with Gravity dominating everybody's praise. | 5/5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | true | 10 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
2 Guns | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The worst-directed action film since Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim...yet another serving of action mulch where you simply do not care where the bullets land. (Sigh. Where's Steven Seagal when you need him?) | 1/5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | true | 2 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Loneliest Planet | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Writer/director Julia Loktev, a New York filmmaker born in Russia, skilfully uses stillness and the vastness of the Caucasus Mountains to frame her trio of characters in psychological quicksand. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Dance Academy: The Comeback | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Fans of the show will feel dutifully well-served. Those coming to the film cold might feel a little iced out. | 2.5/5 | 5 | 2.5 | 5 | true | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Victoria & Abdul | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The film is a pleasant valentine to the notion of nations getting along, however distant a dream that might seem at the moment. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Founder | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The true story behind the birth of the McDonald's fast food empire is the alluring basis for an absolutely ripping, fact-based yarn that is surely Oscar bound. | 4.5/5 | 5 | 4.5 | 5 | true | 9 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Homesman | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Actor Tommy Lee Jones again proves himself a fine director with this quietly remarkable revisionist western. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Book Thief | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Here's an example of a film that aims for the heart, but hits the stomach. Based on the best-selling, award-winning book by Australian author Markus Zusak, The Book Thief is a well-meaning, overlong, largely dull wartime drama set in Nazi Germany. | 1.5/5 | 5 | 1.5 | 5 | true | 3 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
A Late Quartet | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The ever-impressive [Philip Seymour] Hoffman - as effortlessly good an ensemble player as he is a leading man - stands out as the flawed violinist who has trouble controlling his id. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Snow White and the Huntsman | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The stylistic influence of Lord of the Rings permeates the film and effectively sells the fairy tale as a drama-driven showdown between the Evil Queen's unquenchable vanity and Snow White's uncrushable sense of honour. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
A Walk Among the Tombstones | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Walk Among the Tombstones is the latest gritty action film to be fashioned around Liam Neeson's undeniably powerful - and some would say inexplicable - persona as a laconic angel of vengeance. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Superfly | 3AW | Jim Schembri | [This] full-bodied remake of the 1972 blaxploitation film might not be much of a morality tale but it is a very well-constructed crime drama, directed by Julien Christian Lutz who apparently has a great love for the vernacular of the streets. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Star Trek Into Darkness | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The new Star Trek film by wunderkind director JJ Abrams is much, much better than his much-lauded 2009 Trek reboot. It had to be...Abrams has packed together a ripping, morally complex, highly intelligent story with some truly awe-striking visuals. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Pussy Riot- - A Punk Prayer | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Sharply highlight[s] the dilemma post-Soviet Russia faces today regarding tolerance of views that go against the orthodoxy. By the end you really do feel like calling Russia and saying "come on, grow up." | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Program | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Very good, revealing film about the extraordinary pressure of modern competitive sport and the man who has become something of a negative role model, even though his backstory as a cancer survivor does allow room for sympathy. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Halloween | 3AW | Jim Schembri | In yet another example of a franchise that refuses to die here comes the 11th Halloween film, and while it's not brilliant or terribly clever it is certainly good enough and scary enough to make up for some of the more awful sequels in the series. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Underworld: Blood Wars | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Nothing new here, sure, but perfectly well-prepared fan fodder. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Bumblebee | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Though free of the hyper-kinetic shooting style of Transformers maestro Michael Bay, the film is spiced by similarly fluid direction by Travis Knight who maintains the high visual standard of the franchise while clearly aiming at a younger demographic. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The End Of The Tour | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Jesse Eisenberg especially impressive as the motor-mouthed inquisitor opposite Jason Segel's endearing turn as a relaxed slacker genius. An enjoyable arthouse offering. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Apollo 11 | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The film offers a truly visceral experience, creating the powerful illusion that the eight-day event is occurring in real time...It'd be a cold heart indeed who can watch this film without feeling a lump in the throat. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
First Man | 3AW | Jim Schembri | With the visual veracity of a documentary, Damien Chazelle's superb chronicle of the Space Race that lead to the 1969 Moon landing is a sterling work that goes to extraordinary lengths highlighting the risks these crazy-brave men took. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Hannah Arendt | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A dramatically solid, if talky, account of the controversial episode in the post-war world that spawned the phrase "the banality of evil", with strong performances from Barbara Sukowa and Janet McTeer. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Hitchcock | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The unalloyed joy of seeing one of the greatest actors of all time hamming it up as one of the greatest directors of all time is but one of the delights offered by this cheeky, deeply affectionate pic. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Life Of Crime | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Fun, throwaway, time-killing crime comedy romp. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Jupiter Ascending | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The Wachowski siblings' sprawling, mega-sized, enjoyably loopy space lark. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Risen | 3AW | Jim Schembri | From director Kevin Reynolds and Sony's Affirm division, which specialises in films designed to appeal to the Christian faithful, comes a pretty good, handsomely produced, non-patronising Christ-based drama set in the days after the crucifixion. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Barrymore | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Erik Canuel, who directed and adapted the work, employs a host of cinematic techniques to enhance Plummer's spell-binding turn as a crotchety has-been who, in 1942, attempts to revive his career by playing Richard III. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Man of Steel | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Though fans might miss the levity that made Richard Donner's classic 1978 film Superman: The Movie such a game-changing joy, the thing that really sells this respectful reboot is the dramatic conviction underlying all the mega-scale mayhem. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Lone Survivor | 3AW | Jim Schembri | If there's one major message at the core of Peter Berg's outstanding, realistic, fact-based war film it's that no amount of new-fangled military technology can take away from the brutality and human cost of frontline fighting. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Our Kind of Traitor | 3AW | Jim Schembri | In one of the better adaptations of spymaster John Le Carre's work, veteran British director Susanna White (Nanny McPhee; Generation Kill; Boardwalk Empire) does a dutiful job delivering a taut espionage thriller soundly grounded in human drama. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Ice Age: Collision Course | 3AW | Jim Schembri | This is pleasant enough, and well-made as usual, but it'd be nice, after all this walking and talking, for the series to either wind up or change direction. | 2.5/5 | 5 | 2.5 | 5 | true | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Other Woman | 3AW | Jim Schembri | An embarrassing, lame-brained mess, full of obvious story holes and incoherent scene progression that appear to rely on audiences suddenly forgetting what they've just seen. It's quite extraordinary. | 1/5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | true | 2 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Hector And The Search For Happiness | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Also known as Eat Pray Love - The Guy Edition. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Shape of Water | 3AW | Jim Schembri | From the world's most over-rated A-list director, Guillermo del Toro, comes yet another visually distinctive, tonally flat work of glum fantasy...As usual, Del Toro's acolytes have promptly fallen into line praising this overlong pseudo sci-fi pap. | 1/5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | true | 2 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Siddharth | 3AW | Jim Schembri | By any fair measure, Siddharth is a very good example of world cinema, offering us a window into a world we would not otherwise see. But be cautioned: it is not exactly an "up" film. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
To Rome with Love | 3AW | Jim Schembri | After the surprise triumph of Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen returns with another charmer set in a foreign city... At 76, he's clearly at the top of his game. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Blancanieves | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Given all the hoo-haa over The Artist - did it really win Oscars for Best Film, Director & Actor? 'Fraid so. - it's a surprise this splendid Spanish silent retelling of Snow White hasn't drawn more plaudits. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Lawless | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Every time things heat up, the film down-shifts just long enough to keep you from getting too engaged in the characters, some of whom disappear for reels before popping up again. | 2.5/5 | 5 | 2.5 | 5 | true | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Bling Ring | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Feather-weight satire of rich teen girls who steal from celebrities...The film is the cinematic equivalent of reading a health warning on the frosting of an over-priced cupcake. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Son Of God | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Not that this cobbled-together film is done badly, but it is a choppy, by-the-numbers bland-out. | 2/5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | true | 4 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Total Recall | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A slick, high-tech, fabulously designed popcorn pusher. Yet the one big thing missing from the lark is the one thing that made the Arnold Schwarzenegger film so enjoyable - fun. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Hateful Eight | 3AW | Jim Schembri | For all his good intentions and adoration of old-school filmmakers, Tarantino has overreached here - a hard thing for a guy with so much talent to do. That said, one thing Tarantino can never be faulted on is the commitment he gets from his players. | 2.5/5 | 5 | 2.5 | 5 | true | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The 15:17 to Paris | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Whatever the film's shortcomings, one thing you can't fault Eastwood for is his unassailable commitment to celebrating American heroism. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Fist Fight | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The film features a lot of that specifically American semi-improvised style of comedic acting where the actors act as though they've either forgotten what they're about to say, or have suddenly remembered it. | 1.5/5 | 5 | 1.5 | 5 | true | 3 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
My Mistress | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Debut director Stephen Lance makes it all look pretty enough, but the film is so staid, safe and polite it's often just plain dull. If only the film had a real taste for the transgressions it gingerly depicts, it could have been Australia's Blue Velvet. | 2/5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | true | 4 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Excoriating, compelling, genuinely frightening documentary from Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (We Steal Secrets; Enron) about the strange workings of the powerful Scientology movement. Forget the Tom Cruise/John Travolta/South Park jokes. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Ant-Man | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Next to Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man is easily the most enjoyable, unashamedly fun and least pretentious superhero film to emerge from the computer-generated clutter of the Marvel movie universe. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Live By Night | 3AW | Jim Schembri | What a totally unpleasant surprise Ben Affleck's gun-happy, empty-headed gangster film turns out to be...We have a sloppy narrative so full of holes you'd think somebody had taken to it with a Thompson sub-machine gun. | 1.5/5 | 5 | 1.5 | 5 | true | 3 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone) | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The notion of strings-free sex gets a good working over from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet), who takes as much pride in exploring the workings of Stephanie's troubled mind as he does in digitally removing her legs. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Sound of My Voice | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A cracker of a film about the seductive power of cults... the film rides largely on the haunting, compelling presence of Marling. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
No | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Shooting the entire film on video equipment of the era gives No some visual snap but it is very much a pedestrian, by-the-numbers docu-drama tale, with the emphasis on the former rather than the latter. | 2/5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | true | 4 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Broken Circle Breakdown | 3AW | Jim Schembri | There are plenty of touching, powerful moments in director Felix Van Groeningen's child-with-cancer drama...though [it's] somewhat laboured. The 2012 French film Declaration of War dealt with a similar topic in more lyrical, more affecting manner. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Walk | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Most people should find the film's finale stunning as The Walk fulfils its unstated though obvious brief to present a factually based urban fairy tale designed to recast the towers as beacons of wonder and beauty rather than as symbols of terror. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Big Hero 6 | 3AW | Jim Schembri | This anime-flavoured Disney sci-fi lark is an absolute delight, a near-perfect family entertainment. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Only God Forgives | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A feverish blend of ultra-violence, corruption, bad mothering and karaoke... Simultaneously seedy and artsy, the film has a jagged stop-start pace that will mesmerise some, bore others and confound those left over. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Paper Planes | 3AW | Jim Schembri | In one of the great career gear shifts in recent memory, Melbourne director Robert Connolly, who gave us such searing dramas as The Bank, Three Dollars and Balibo, delivers an adorable family film that is uplifting, warm, winning and, most of all, funny. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Dog Eat Dog | 3AW | Jim Schembri | [Director Paul] Schrader peppers the film with stylistic touches that remind you of the dark, playful master he once was. | 2.5/5 | 5 | 2.5 | 5 | true | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Amateur Night | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Jason Biggs plays a failing architect who becomes an Uber driver for a trio of Los Angeles hookers, one of whom is played by Ashley Tisdale in a salty performance intended to distance her from the sweet turns she did in the High School Musical films. | 2/5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | true | 4 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Carol | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Director Todd Haynes steers away from the melodrama that drove Far From Heaven (2002), the emphasis here being on restraint, mood and beautifully nuanced performances, all framed by the type of exacting period recreation that has now become standard. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Best Offer | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Clearly at a phase in his career where he can do no wrong, Geoffrey Rush is the aloof, germaphobic, magnetic core of a beguiling tale about fine art, art auctions, fake paintings, antique automatons and wealthy urban hermits. Great stuff. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Marley | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Outstanding, thorough, often moving documentary about the tragically short life and huge influence of musician Bob Marley... by any fair measure, a great music documentary. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Free Solo | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Those who suffer from acrophobia (fear of heights) and basophobia (fear of falling) yet enjoy having those fears pricked in the safety of a comfy cinema seat should find Free Solo enthralling...A perfect treat for the armchair adventurer. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Tammy | 3AW | Jim Schembri | When Melissa McCarthy tries cracking wise in front of the camera in what are obviously attempts at improvisation, man, those moments feel like they go on forever. And there's way too many of them. She strives for punchlines that never eventuate. | 2/5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | true | 4 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
X-Men: Apocalypse | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Bryan Singer has managed to pump out what is probably the best X-Men film after First Class. He really does demonstrate what a difference a director can make to a mega-film such as this. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
American Made | 3AW | Jim Schembri | In Doug Liman's sensationally entertaining adventure-comedy biopic, Tom Cruise steps away from his blockbuster tropes to register one of the best and brightest performances of his career... easily as enjoyable a thrill ride as any of Cruise's other epics. | 4/5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | true | 8 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Perks of Being a Wallflower | 3AW | Jim Schembri | While most films about teenage life tend to trade on a nifty hook, and sometimes even a plot, The Perks of Being a Wallflower chimes in as an unusually incisive, character-driven ramble through the inevitable awkwardness of teen life. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
G.I. Joe: Retaliation | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Dizzyingly entertaining celebration of fireballs, wire-assisted martial arts and high-calibre firepower has more grace and poise than Die Hard 5...will surely make up for those disappointed with the so-so 2009 film. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Hotel Transylvania | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Dracula's hammy, exaggerated gesticulations seem to beg for laughs while the film's static story feels like it went into production with the first draft of a screenplay that needed a second act quite badly. | 2/5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | true | 4 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A shabby, sub-standard affair...Diehard fans of Miss Fisher might very well shed a crypt of tears after seeing it...The first 20 minutes of this film are simply painful to watch, suggesting a hastily made low-budget effort. | 1/5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | true | 2 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Gambler | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Director Rupert Wyatt pulls no punches in vividly portraying the moral gutter gambling addicts can find themselves in, and Mark Wahlberg's boyish face reflects the desperation that keeps him from wising up. | 2.5/5 | 5 | 2.5 | 5 | true | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Searching | 3AW | Jim Schembri | This really is tantalizing stuff that elicits old-school thrills from new-school technology. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
End of Watch | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The movie's central message seems to be that any bad guy who hurts a cop better pray that the person who catches up with them isn't another cop. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Unfinished Song | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A modest joy to behold, the film also clicks into the recent high-quality spate of movies aimed at and starring seniors, such as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Quartet, Performance, Amour and Hitchcock. Here's to more. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Men in Black III | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Here's a case of a second sequel being better than the first because, well, it had to be...Thankfully, reliance on visual effects has been dialled down this time around for the sake of a decent story. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Damsels in Distress | 3AW | Jim Schembri | While the highly mannered banter on show here doesn't quite have the cutting ring of Whit Stillman's] epocal, yuppie-era conversation piece Metropolitan (1990), it brims with dry wit and wry observations about college life and awkward emotions. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Hail, Caesar! | 3AW | Jim Schembri | The elaborate, beautifully slick musical numbers run for minutes on end and suggest the Coen's might have been better off making a full-on, old-style, unironic Hollywood movie rather than an ensemble comedy that merely pays tribute to them. | 2.5/5 | 5 | 2.5 | 5 | true | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Shadow Dancer | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Director James Marsh fashions a taut thriller out of tough material, much of which pinwheels on a compelling central performance from Andrea Riseborough as a woman trapped in a tightening emotional vice. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Book Of Love | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Finely prepared mush with some nice riffs about acceptance and moving on that unspools quite pleasantly in the home entertainment environment...a modest, well-made, small-scale film with a simple message. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Hunter Killer | 3AW | Jim Schembri | An extremely entertaining, cookie-cut action thriller that falls straight in line with Crimson Tide, K-19 and The Hunt for Red October...If you like your Hollywood military porn large and flashy Hunter Killer is a marvelous made-to-order time killer. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty | 3AW | Jim Schembri | In a major gear change, Ben Stiller shifts away from the heightened comedic style he is known for through such films as Zoolander, Tropic Thunder and The Cable Guy to deliver a more soulful, thoughtful comedy driven by character rather than caricature. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Godzilla | 3AW | Jim Schembri | A lumbering, self-serious, resoundingly dull stew of cliches, clumsy exposition and seen-'em-before visual effects. | 1/5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | true | 2 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Red Joan | 3AW | Jim Schembri | This is the first movie in 22 years for director Trevor Nunn, and it really should be his last unless he demonstrates some flair for the medium...Red Joan doesn't even work as a cautionary tale about watching who you mix with at work. | 1.5/5 | 5 | 1.5 | 5 | true | 3 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Rocket | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Australian writer/director Kim Mordaunt was inspired to make this wistful, often lyrical film after his 2007 documentary Bomb Harvest...Thankfully he layers the unavoidable political notes with real warmth, humour and character. | 3/5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | true | 6 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
Pandora's Promise | 3AW | Jim Schembri | An A-grade exercise in myth-busting...Consciously counter-intuitive, Pandora's Promise is a challenging, sober film that provides much food for thought as it dares to de-demonise nuclear power. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
The Smurfs 2 | 3AW | Jim Schembri | Yay! The Smurfs are back - bigger, bolder and bluer than ever. It's fun fun fun, a more-than-worthy, hyper-energetic sequel to the fabulous first film...It's all wonderful fantasy nonsense, delivered fast and with plenty of self-consciously cheap laughs. | 3.5/5 | 5 | 3.5 | 5 | true | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 |