Cinema review TUESDAY
8 APR to
WEDNESDAY
16 APR
FOR 5 DAYS ONLY! COMMENCES THIS SATURDAY! SATURDAY APRIL 12 4.00pm - METALLICA THROUGH THE NEVER (3D*) 6.15pm - MUSCLE SHOALS SUNDAY APRIL 13: 4.00pm - 20 FEET FROM STARDOM 6.30pm - THE NATIONAL: MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS
MONDAY APRIL 14 6.30pm - A BAND CALLED DEATH TUESDAY APRIL 15 6.30pm - STONE ROSES: MADE OF STONE WEDNESDAY APRIL 16 6.30pm - CHARLES BRADLEY: SOUL OF AMERICA
EXCLUSIVE TO PALACE BYRON BAY CINEMA • APRIL 12 TO 16 • TIX ON SALE NOW!
ROCK ME BABY FILM FEST (No free tix) Opens Sat! Exclusive to Palace Byron Bay See above for full schedule THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (M) (No free tix) Thu 10, Fri 11: 4:45, 6:45, 9:10pm Sat 12-Wed 16: 3:45, 7:45, 9:15pm DIVERGENT (M) (No free tix) Thu 10, Fri 11: 11:10am, 3:50, 6:30pm Sat 12, Sun 13: 9:10am, 3:50, 6:30pm Mon 14-Wed 16: 1:10, 3:50, 6:30pm MUPPETS MOST WANTED (G) (No free tix) Thu 10, Fri 11: 9:50am, 12:00, 1:45 Sat 12-Wed 16: 9:00am, 11:00am, 1:45pm 2D CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (M) (No free tix) Tue 8-Wed 9: 11:45am, 4:00, 6:45pm Thu 10, Fri 11: 2:10, 3:40pm Sat 12, Sun 13: 11:10am, 1:10pm Mon 14-Wed 16: 11:10am, 4:00pm 3D CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (M) (No free tix) Tue 8-Wed 9: 8:45pm Thu 10, Fri 11: 8:15 Sat 12-Wed 16: 8:30 Enjoy our licensed bar
Lavazza Espresso Coffee
2D THE LEGO MOVIE (PG) (No free tix) Tue 8-Wed 9: 11:05am, 2:30, 6:40pm Thu 10, Fri 11: 11:40am, 1:40pm Sat 12-Wed 16: 11:45am, 5:45pm 3D THE LEGO MOVIE (PG) (No free tix) Tue 8-Wed 9: 4:35 Thu 10, Fri 11: 6:15pm Sat 12-Wed 16: 2:00pm NOAH (M) Tue 8-Wed 9: 9:00, 1:45, 6:35, 9:25pm Thu 10, Fri 11: 9:00am, 8:45pm Sat 12, Sun 13: 9:45pm Mon 14-Wed 16: 9:00am, 9:45pm 2D MR PEABODY AND SHERMAN (PG) Tue 8-Wed 9: 9:00am, 4:30pm Thu 10, Fri 11: 9:15am Sat 12-Wed 16: 9:00am THE GREAT BEAUTY (MA15+) Tue 8-Wed 9: 1:10, 9:30pm THE MONUMENTS MEN (M) Tue 8-Wed 9: 11:20am TRACKS (M) Tue 8-Wed 9: 9:00am All sessions are correct at the time of publication. Current session times at: www.palacecinemas.com.au Gift cards are the perfect gift
Group Bookings available
108-110 Jonson Street, Byron Bay 6680 8555 | www.palacecinemas.com.au
28 April 8, 2014 The Byron Shire Echo
THE LEGO MOVIE Imagine being left in the blocks at the start of a hundred-metre dash and looking up to see Usain Bolt already halfway down the track. That is precisely how I felt when this hectic and, if you allow your mind to wander for a mere few seconds, all but incomprehensible movie began. Fearing perhaps that any extended period of less that total concentration might result in its target audience of young kids driving their parents nuts with bored wriggling, the makers have opted for warp speed to keep the little heathens’ minds focused. The intro, a blur of information that I didn’t take in on account of the chocolate from my iceTHE GREAT BEAUTY Better late than never to see this sensual, sometimes surreal but unapologetically self-aware and deeply melancholy film from Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino. Sixty-five year-old Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) is a one-hit wonder, having written a prize-winning novel as a young man in his twenties, but nothing since. Content to rest on his laurels as a journalist renowned for doing high-profile interviews, he has remained on the A-list of Rome’s partying glitterati and is still regarded as a shining light among the city’s intelligentsia. Jep, however, is world-weary, a cynical if unoffended observer of the indulgences and pretentions of Rome’s elite – his velvet-gloved demolition of a performance artist’s posturing is ruthless. The movie’s obvious connection is with Federico Fellini’s revered La Dolce Vita (1960) – there are also echoes of Roma (1972) – but if we are to see Jep as the senior version
cream that had bombed my white shirt, quickly jumps to a period eight years later – and the fantastical city made of Lego pieces where we meet Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt). The cleverness is impressive, but the script is a dud. It boils down to a Big Brother scenario in which a cad – let’s refer to him as being an overbearing bully, like the Dirty Digger – controls society not by keeping it under the jackboot, but by convincing people that their place in the status quo is unalterable. The message that Emmet will carry is that ‘you are all special’ (yawn). Having read the premise and noted that the film had been well received, I hoped for something that might
get somewhere near to the beautiful and moving Toy Story 3 – even Mr Peabody would have sufficed. But, burdened by a heavy boredom factor, it is not in the same street. Will Arnett does a terrific impersonation of Christian Bale’s Batman, Morgan Freeman has no trouble with Vitruvius, a bearded ancient sage (what
would you expect?), while Will Ferrell doubles as the villain Lord Business and the real life Dad. The magic that allows us to believe in and love an animated character – like we did unreservedly with Shrek, Woody and Rango – is unable to be conjured up by po-faced Emmet – he just can’t cut it. ~ John Campbell
flamingoes on the balcony are extraordinary – languidly paced and inspiring in its ambition, and the closing shot, as the camera floats slowly down the Tiber towards the Castel Sant’Angelo, is a dream. I was sorry when it ended. Magnificent. ~ John Campbell
GFEFSBM m MNT QSFTFOUT of Marcello Mastroianni’s character then we must also understand that maturity has produced in him a jaded introspection that inevitably dilutes life’s current sweetness while it casts an ethereal light on memory’s stored treasures. Told one night of a woman’s death, Jep suddenly becomes aware of his own mortality and seems to understand more acutely aware that all the world is, after all, a stage – his ‘performance’ at a funeral exemplifies the truism. Death, in fact, is the constant prowler,
evident in the ancient masonry that is a backdrop to the frenzied nightlife and drugged erotica of those who would forever keep it at bay. Guiding us like Dante’s Virgil through a cocaineand-cocktails inferno, Servillo is remarkable at being simultaneously inside and outside the story, watching it with us. Set in the Eternal City of stone and marble, of fountains and statuary, of religious piety and shameless hedonism, Sorrentino has created a great beauty. It is visually stunning – the
Sat April 12
FEDERAL HALL
MA
Dinner 6.30 PM Film 8 PM
T 6684 9313 W federal film society.com
Byron Shire Echo archives: www.echo.net.au