INSURGENT
BIG EYES
‘I make things up for a living… I’m a reporter.’ Danny Huston’s introductory voice-over had me hooked from the first minute of the (to me) under-achieving Tim Burton’s new movie. Appearing to be blinded by his unique gifts as a filmmaker, Burton has made a habit of flattering to deceive, but on this occasion he grants the story primary status over flash quirkiness. And what an incredible story it is. After fleeing with her young daughter from an abusive husband, Margaret (Amy Adams) finds work decorating babies’ cots in 1960s San Francisco. While trying to sell her paintings at a weekend street stall, she meets Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), a smooth-talking but struggling fellow artist. Margaret’s pictures are of children with huge round eyes and after one is purchased under the assumption that it was done by Walter the pose is maintained, although not entirely with Margaret’s blessing. The couple marry and the ‘big-eyes’ paintings become a 1960s national craze, especially when reproduced as posters.
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Also inside this command centre is a sort of medieval magic box, the contents of which nobody knows and that looks like it might have been lifted from Ragnar and Lagertha’s feasting hall in TV’s stupendous Vikings. The screenplay is ‘fast again, slow again’ as it grinds between boy–girl intimacy and breathless exposition to no-holds-barred mayhem – watch spellbound as Tris surges through a glass wall, splintering it into a g’zillion slo-mo pieces! Luckily for Tris and Four, there is a legion of the downtrodden to support them and Jeanine’s SWAT team couldn’t win a pie at a Big Ben picnic when it comes to shooting sitting ducks. As post-apocalypse flicks go, this is absurd for its self-importance and bogus sanctimony – but aren’t they all?
What with there being so many sequels and prequels churned out by the big studios these days, it occurred to me that a few minutes spent recapping what we saw twelve months ago might not be out of order. I mean, it’s not as if we’ve been lying awake on tenterhooks every night waiting for the next instalment of whichever blockbuster it is. I had an uncertain recollection of enjoying the first of the Divergent series – but then again, it could have been Hunger Games, for the scenarios are not dissimilar. In fact, cinema’s template for the future world doesn’t vary much, regardless WEDNESDAY 25 MAR of costume and weapon design. Ubiquitous to is the jack-booted State, trampling the WEDNESDAY 1 AP R MOVIE CLUB PRICES Adult $12.00 / Golden Club $8.50 rights of the great unwashed and jealously guarding all power and wealth within its inner sanctum. The new development in the genre is that the hero has become a heroine – here it’s Tris (Shailene Woodley) – and in this case the arch villain, the mundanely named Jeanine (Kate Winslet), is also female. We’ve made such progress, haven’t we? Tris has got a handsome tag-along called Four (Theo James), and together they set about bringing down the tyranny of the OPENS THURS OPENS THURS FRI, SAT AND SUN bastards who control everything from the heights of an enormous white tower that 2D THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ROYAL OPERA: INSURGENT (M) (No Free Tix) DER FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER (CTC) rises out of the rubble of yesterday’s city. (No Free Tix) Wed 25: 11:00am
This is a fascinating study of a woman in pre-feminist California falling victim to the overbearing ego and self-delusion of an unscrupulous wannabe. Adams finds a perfect balance as the mousy, uncertain wife who is reluctant to derail the wild success of the Keane brand, but also miffed at not receiving the recognition she has rightly earned. As hinted at by columnist Dick Nolan (Huston), their world is a made-up one of celebrity brown-nosing and exploitation. But the movie is also a nonjudgmental study of what an artist is all about, for at the centre of the maelstrom that develops, Margaret remains a serious painter who never loses touch with her personal inspiration, and who never falls out of love with her own pictures. Waltz tends to overdo the megalomania of Keane when the fraudster finds himself challenged, but Huston, Jason Schwartzman as a chic gallery owner, and evergreen Terence Stamp as the affronted NY Times critic all cast a light on the intrigue, pretence and brazen opportunism of the chimeric art scene. Fab.
CINDERELLA (G) (No Free Tix) Thu 26: 10:00, 4:15, 6:40, 9:10pm Fri 27-Sun 29: 9:40, 1:50, 6:30, 9:00pm Mon 30-Wed 1: 9:40, 1:50, 6:30, 9:15pm SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE (G) (No Free Tix) Thu 26: 10:10, 12:10pm Fri 27-Sun 29: 9:00, 10:50am Mon 30-Wed 1: 9:50, 11:45am THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER (PG) (No Free Tix) PREVIEWS Fri 27-Sun 29: 11:15am HOME (PG) (No Free Tix) Wed: 9:00, 12:20, 4:40pm Thu 26: 9:50, 11:50, 2:15pm Fri 27-Sun 29: 9:15, 11:50, 2:50pm Mon 30-Wed 1: 10:00, 11:50, 2:20pm FOCUS (MA15+) Wed 25: 4:20, 9:00pm Enjoy our licensed bar
Wed 25: 11.50, 4:40, 6:50pm Thu 26: 1:50, 4:15, 9:40pm. Fri 27-Sun 29: 1:20, 4:00, 9:30pm Mon 30-Wed 1: 1:40, 4:00, 9:10pm
BIG EYES (M) (No Free Tix) Wed 25: 9:45, 2:20, 6:40, 8:50pm Thu 26: 12:00, 2:00, 7:00pm Fri 27-Sun 29: 12:40, 4:50, 6:45pm Mon 30-Wed 1: 12:10, 4:20, 7:00pm INHERENT VICE (MA15+) (No Free Tix) Wed 25: 9:20, 2:00, 9.00pm Thu 26: 4:10, 9:00pm Fri 27-Sun 29: 3:50, 8:40pm Mon 30-Wed 1: 4:10, 8:40pm THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (PG) Wed 25: 1:50, 6:30pm Fri 27-Sun 29: 7:00pm Mon 30-Wed 1: 6:40pm All sessions are correct at the time of publication. Current session times: www.palacecinemas.com.au
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The Byron Shire Echo March 25, 2015 31