Page 28 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Observer Showbiz What’s Hot and What’s Not in Blu-Rays and DVDs
● Armed with her sewing machine, revenge is back in fashion for Kate Winslet in the delightfully dark and quirky Australian gem, The Dressmaker. FILM: THE DRESSMAKER: Genre: Comedy/Drama. Cast: Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving, Judy Davis, Kerry Fox, Rebecca Gibney, Sarah Snook, Caroline Goodall, Shane Jacobson, Barry Otto. Details: 2015/ MA/118 Minutes. Stars: **** Verdict: In the 1950s, the beautiful Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage returns to her rural Australian hometown to take care of her ill mother, who sent her away as a child because of false accusations made against her. Now an expert dressmaker trained in Paris she transforms the locals with her couture creations, and in the process, finds out the truth and exacts revenge on the people who wrongly accused her all those years ago. Described by director Jocelyn Moorhouse as "Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" with a sewing machine," this is a stylish, darkly devilish joy full of brisk energy and wonderfully quirky characters. The outstanding ensemble cast of eccentric characters all shine beginning with Kate Winslet as "Femme Fatale" "Tilly," Judy Davis as the mother, Molly, is an "off-thewall" performance that has to be seen to be believed, and Hugo Weaving's in his campest romp since "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." Based on the novel by Rosalie Ham, with a superb screenplay by director Jocelyn Moorhouse and P.J. Hogan, along with stunning cinematography by veteran Don McAlpine, this is unmissable! And destined to become an Australian classic! FILM: CRIMSON PEAK: Genre: Romance/Drama/Fantasy/Horror. Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain. Details: 2015/ PG/119 Minutes. Stars: **½ Verdict: Set at the turn of the last century, in the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider, and trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a mysterious and haunted gothic house. This slow burning supernatural romantic drama from director Guillermo del Toro lacks the originality, atmosphere, the gripping edge and emotional strength which he excelled with in such other supremely executed gothic drama's as the chilling "The Devil's Backbone," the spellbinding Oscar nominated "Pan's Labyrinth" and the genuinely frightening anxiety and grief stricken reality of "The Orphanage," for which he executive produced. The cast are all in good form, but the real stars here are the eye popping costume design, period detail, set and production design, but it gives far too strong a sense of déjà along the way, having seen it all before, only better. FILM: THE HUDSCUKER PROXY: Genre: Comedy. Cast: Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Charles Durning. Details: 1994/ PG/111 Minutes. Stars: **** Verdict: Set in 1958 in New York, company president Waring Hudsucker commits suicide, the board of directors, led by the deliciously evil Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman) installs a young naive but idealistic business graduate as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam. Mixing Preston Struges, Ernst Lubitsch and Frank Capra, with a touch of John Farrow's 1948 noir classic "The Big Clock," to name a few, this delightfully extravagant (Gillian-esque) comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen is a stylish, comic, dark, romantic, perverse and ultimately a startling fable of the American dream. Meticulously intelligent, witty and bitingly cynical screenplay by Joel & Ethan Coen and Sam Raimi, pitch perfect direction and performances by Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, Jennifer Jason Leigh as a newspaper reporter, and the late great Charles Durning as the suicidal company president, Waring Hudsucker. Standout period detail, costume and production design,and a special mention must go to cinematographer Roger Deakins for his startling vision, and to the music by Carter Burwell, who brilliantly accents every emotion throughout! A gem!
Movies, DVDs
www.MelbourneObserver.com.au
With Jim Sherlock and Aaron Rourke
Crimson Peak
● Director Guillermo Del Toro's latest film, the gorgeously atmospheric Crimson Peak, is about to hit DVD and Blu-Ray. ■ (MA). 119 minutes. Available on change-of-pace for director David DVD and Blu-Ray on February 25. Cronenberg, who gave us such transMore tragic romance than fright- formative nightmares as Shivers, The ful ghost story, this latest effort from Brood, Dead Ringers, and Crash. director Guillermo del Toro is cerBut as Bruce Wagner's vicious tainly lavishly mounted, but its elabo- screenplay unfolds, there are themes rate trappings eventually crush a rather dealing with psychological and physisimple tale. cal mutation that will be familiar to The story centres on Edith fans of this unique film-maker. Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), who afThe incestuous nature of Hollyter falling for the refined charms of wood, and the malleable changing of Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), mind and flesh in order to cater for a is married and whisked away to En- ravenous, tech-crazy public, who gland, specifically the ominous want to know every lurid detail of their Sharpe estate, which is nicknamed private lives, makes this another disCrimson Peak. turbing Cronenberg experience, alAlso living at the house is Sharpe's beit with a very dark sense of humour. sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain), This would actually make a good whose behaviour appears cold and double-bill with the unsettling Antiintimidating. Viral, directed by Cronenberg's son Soon a number of dark secrets will Brandon. be revealed. Crimson Peak unfortuPerformances are excellent, with nately offers no surprises, scares, or Moore a typical stand-out as the even a sense of eerie tension, as del growingly unstable Havana, and for Toro seems to get lost in the dazzling which she won Best Actress at last atmospherics and eye-popping set de- year's Cannes Film Festival. sign, causing the film to bog down and RATING - **** feel overly protracted. A loving ode to Edgar Allen Poe and Mario Bava, with additional nods (MA). 118 minutes. Available Now to The Haunting (1963) and Dario Argento, Crimson Peak is not a di- on DVD. saster like some critics have stated, Effective, highly entertaining acit's just not up there with del Toro's tion/thriller from prolific director best work, such as Pan's Labyrinth, Takashi Miike (13 Assassins / LesThe Devil's Backbone, and Hellboy. son Of The Evil / As The Gods Will), RATING - *** dealing interestingly with ruthless financial gain blurring society's sense of moral responsibility. When deranged Kiyomaru (Tatsuya Fujiwara of Death Note (MA). 111 minutes. Available Now fame) murders a seven year-old girl, the victim's billionaire grandfather on DVD and Blu-Ray. Hollywood is roasted yet again in puts a one-billion yen bounty on his the unusually nasty Maps To The head, a move which forces Kiyomaru Stars, a pungent satire that will defi- to turn himself in to police. Needing to transport Kiyomaru nitely polarise viewers. from the suburban police station he is The story alternates between two homefronts. One is inhabited by the at to Tokyo, five officers are assigned Weiss family, made up of self-help to perform this task, headed by Mekari guru Stafford (John Cusack), agent/ (Takao Osawa). The journey proves a dangerous wife Christina (Olivia Williams), drug-addled child-star Benjie (Evan one, as numerous citizens come out Bird), and formally institutionalised of the woodwork to try and claim the sizeable bounty. Agatha (Mia Wasikowska). In the other resides Havana Miike paces the film nicely, allow(Julianne Moore), an aging actress ing the characters and themes to desliding into the outer who becomes velop between the impressive action obsessed about remaking a 1960's set-pieces. film that starred her late mother. Osawa (The Taste Of Fish / Bizan Floating between them is limo / Ichi) is again first-rate. This has Holdriver and aspiring actor/writer Jerome lywood remake written all over it, so (Robert Pattinson). see it before the US destroy it. Given the film's surface-level RATING - ***½ premise, this initially seems like a - Aaron Rourke
Shield of Straw
Maps To The Stars
Top 10 Lists
THE AUSTRALIAN BOX OFFICE TOP TEN: 1. DEADPOOL. 2. HOW TO BE SINGLE. 3. RIDE ALONG 2. 4. ZOOLANDER 2. 5. BROOKLYN. 6. THE MERMAID. 7. SPOTLIGHT. 8. THREE WISE COUSINS. 9. THE REVENANT. 10. CONCUSSION.
NEW RELEASES AND COMING SOON TO CINEMAS AROUND AUSTRALIA: FEBRUARY 25: 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI, AMERICA WILD 3D, GODS OF EGYPT, HAIL, CAESAR!, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, SON OF SAUL. MARCH 3: THE FINEST HOURS, THE LADY IN THE VAN, TRIPLE 9. THE DVD AND BLU-RAY TOP RENTALS & SALES: 1. THE DRESSMAKER [Drama/ Comedy/Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth]. 2. BLACK MASS [Thriller/Drama/ Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch]. 3. THE MARTIAN [Sci-Fi/Adventure/Drama/Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain]. 4. BURNT [Comedy/Drama/Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl]. 5. CRIMSON PEAK [Horror/ Thriller/Romance/Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston]. 6. THE WALK [Drama/Adventure/ Joseph Gordon-Levitt]. 7. MISS YOU ALREADY [Drama/ Drew Barrymore, Toni Collette, Dominic Cooper]. 8. LEGEND [Drama/Thriller/Tom Hardy, Christopher Eccleston]. 9. THE INTERN [Comedy/Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo]. 10. SICARIO [Crime/Drama/Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin]. Also: THE LAST WITCH HUNTER, MACBETH, QUEEN AND COUNTRY, MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS, SHERLOCK: The Abominable Bride, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, EVEREST, IRRATIONAL MAN, SOUTHPAW, HOLDING THE MAN. NEW RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS ON DVD THIS WEEK: BRIDGE OF SPIES [Drama/Thriller/ Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda]. THE NIGHT BEFORE [Comedy/Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt]. GRANDMA [Comedy/Drama/Lily Tomlin, Marcia Gay Harden]. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION [Horror]. HOTEL TRANSYLV ANIA 2 [Animated/Comedy/Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Mel Brooks]. NEW RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS ON BLURAY THIS WEEK: BRIDGE OF SPIES [Drama/Thriller/ Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda]. THE NIGHT BEFORE [Comedy/Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt]. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION [Horror]. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION 3D + BluRay [Horror]. Turn To Page 33