Author: James Partridge

Cinema Release Round-Up: 8 January

Posted by | Jan 8, 2015 |

Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep headlines the week’s line-up; which also features the big screen adaptation of a Stephen Sondheim fairytale musical, the third Taken outing, a Mexican box office hit, and the return of the Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas. What film’s your pick? . Opening today: . WINTER SLEEP……FILM OF THE WEEK Turkey, France, Germany | 196 minutes | Drama Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) Cast: Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sözen, Demet Akbag, Ayberk Pekcan, Serhat Mustafa Kiliç, Nejat Isler Aydin runs a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife Nihal, with whom he has a stormy relationship, and his sister Necla, who is suffering from her recent divorce. As winter sets in, the hotel becomes a shelter but also an inescapable place that fuels their animosities. It won Cannes. It’s a very good film. But the slow pacing and 196 minute run-time means it’s not for everyone. Distributor: Rialto Distribution . DUMB AND DUMBER TO USA | 109 minutes | Comedy Directors: Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly (Dumb & Dumber, Me, Myself & Irene, There’s Something About Mary) Cast: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Kathleen Turner, Laurie Holden, Paul Blackthorne, Rob Riggle 20 years after the loveable dimwits had on their first epic adventure, Harry and Llyod set out in search of one of their long lost children in the hope...

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Cinema Release Round-Up: 1 January

Posted by | Jan 1, 2015 |

After conquering the box office as a fearsome dragon, the brilliant Benedict Cumberbatch returns to do it again as a not so fictional character, in the WWII drama The Imitation Game. If trying to break the Nazi enigma code doesn’t sound like a fun way to spend New Year’s Day, Ridley Scott is on hand to provide us with a big budget biblical epic, and those adorable penguins from the Madagascar films get their own outing. . THE IMITATION GAME……FILM OF THE WEEK UK, USA | 114 minutes | Biography, Drama, Thriller, War Director: Morten Tyldum (Headhunters) Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Charles Dance, Matthew Goode, Aaron Paul, Mark Strong, Rory Kinnear During World War II, mathematician Alan Turing tries to crack the enigma code with a little help from fellow number crunchers. With Tyldum at the helm and Cumberbatch in the lead, this promises to be a cracking film. Distributor: Roadshow Distribution . EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS UK, USA | 170 minutes | Action, Drama Director: Ridley Scott (Prometheus, Gladiator, Alien, Blade Runner) Cast: Christian Bale, Sigourney Weaver, Joel Edgerton, Ben Mendelsohn, Ben Kingsley, John Turturro, María Valverde, Indira Varma The defiant leader Moses rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey to escape Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues. It’ll be an incredible looking film, but can the script...

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Cinema Release Round-Up: 26 December

Posted by | Dec 26, 2014 |

What better way to relax after all the Christmas excess than head to the movies. There’s plenty to enjoy this week, including Cannes hit, and our FOTW, Mr Turner. . Opening today: . MR TURNER……FILM OF THE WEEK UK | 149 minutes | Biography, Drama Director: Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies, Happy-Go-Lucky, Vera Drake) Cast: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Ruth Sheen, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Sandy Foster, Karl Johnson, Amy Dawson, Lesley Manville, Martin Savage, Richard Bremmer An exploration of the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, British painter J.M.W. Turner’s life. I was lucky enough to see this at Cannes. Beautiful film, with an outstanding performance from Spall. Distributor: eOne . BIG HERO 6 USA | 108 minutes | Action, Animated, Comedy, Family Directors: Chris Williams (Bolt), Don Hall (Winnie the Pooh) Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Samuel L. Jackson, Freddie Highmore, T.J. Miller, Maya Rudolph, Jamie Chung, Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, Damon Wayans Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, James Cromwell A special bond develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes. Looks great fun. Disney has another hit on their hands. Distributor: Disney . HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 USA | 108 minutes | Comedy Director: Sean Anders (Sex Drive, That’s My Boy) Cast: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston,...

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Cinema Release Round-Up: 18 December

Posted by | Dec 18, 2014 |

An acting masterclass from Alfred Molina and John Lithgow make Love is Strange our pick of the films out this week. But there are plenty of fine performances to be seen on screen, from humans and animals alike, in all the films opening today, including: Quvenzhané Wallis‘ take on the Disney classic Annie, Isabelle Huppert showing us romantic comedy should be done, Paddington Bear bringing the laughs, and an adorable pet monkey making a brave fist of it in the Amazon. Which performance are you most looking forward to? . Opening today: . LOVE IS STRANGE……FILM OF THE WEEK USA, France | 95 minutes | Drama, Romance Director: Ira Sachs (Keep the Lights On, Married Life, Forty Shades of Blue) Cast: Alfred Molina, John Lithgow, Marisa Tomei, Cheyenne Jackson, Charlie Tahan, Christian Coulson After 39 years together, Ben and George finally get to tie the knot. But when Ben is fired from his job, and with little savings between them, the newlyweds must face the challenges of living apart after so many years. Was gutted to miss this at NZIFF, but stoked I get the chance to now. Distributor: Rialto Distribution . AMAZONIA France, Brazil | 83 minutes | Adventure, Family Director: Thierry Ragobert (The White Planet) After a plane crash, a capuchin monkey born and raised in captivity finds himself alone and lost in the wilderness of the...

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Cinema Release Round-Up: 10 December

Posted by | Dec 10, 2014 |

It will come as no surprise that our ‘Film of the Week’ is Peter Jackson‘s (possibly) final trip to Middle Earth. But if that doesn’t have you running down to the cinema like an excited fanboy or girl, then there are a couple of other very interested offerings to consider. Will you be returning to Middle Earth one last time? . Opening tomorrow: . THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES……FILM OF THE WEEK New Zealand, USA | 144 minutes | Drama, Fantasy, War Director: Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong) Cast: Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Ian McKellen, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Manu Bennett, Billy Connolly, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Aidan Turner, James Nesbitt While Smaug scorches everything in sight and Thorin blindly covets his reclaimed treasure, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide to unite or be destroyed as Sauron’s army of Orcs look to take the Lonely Mountain. How could we not see how it all ends and pay tribute to six movies that have forever changed the New Zealand film landscape? Available in a choice of dimensions and frame rates. Distributor: Warner Bros . Opening today: . NT LIVE: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE UK | 180 minutes | Live Performance Director: Benedict Andrews (Three Sisters) Cast: Gillian Anderson, Ben Foster, Vanessa Kirby...

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