Page 50 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Movies, DVDs
www.MelbourneObserver.com.au
With Jim Sherlock and Aaron Rourke
What’s Hot and What’s Not in Blu-Rays and DVDs
● Benedict Cumberbatch gives an unforgettable tour-de-force performance in the gripping and outstanding Oscar winning The Imitation Game. FILM: THE IMITATION GAME: Genre: Biography/War/Drama/Thriller. Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong. Year: 2014. Rating: M . Length: 114 Minutes. Stars: ****½ Verdict: Compelling real life WWII story of brilliant and troubled British mathematician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing and his nail-biting race against time with his team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park in cracking Nazi Germany's Enigma code that helped the Allies win the Second World War. From the opening frame you are firmly gripped by this powerful story by a skilful and emotionally charged Oscar winning screenplay driven with great respect, intelligence and deep dark wounds. Exemplary 1940's period detail, it was actually filmed at the real Bletchley Park, the Oscar nominated performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as the tormented Alan Turing is a masterful and breathtaking tour de force! - confirming his status as one of the most gifted actors on the screen today. Brimming with humour, heart, soul, frightening reality and heartbreaking tragedy, this is a not only the extraordinary story of a brilliant man who changed the world, but how that same world so brutally and shamelessly destroyed him. FILM: ST. VINCENT: Genre: Comedy/Drama. Cast: Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts. Year: 2014. Rating: PG. Length: 102Minutes. Stars: ***½ Verdict: Quirky and engaging story of a young boy whose parents have just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic (grumpy) and bawdy war veteran who lives next door. Bill Murray shines in the role of the aging war veteran with a heartfelt secret, and the usually outrageous Melissa McCarthy gives a superbly restrained performance as the mother, but it is Naomi Watts who gives a scene stealing performance as the Russian night club dancer and "Lady of the Night." Funny, touching, poignant and ultimately rewarding, this is a small, simple film with a big heart. FILM: THE GREAT GATSBY: Genre: Drama/Film-Noir. Cast: Alan Ladd, Betty Field, MacDonald Carey, Shelley Winters. Year: 1949. Rating: PG. Length: 91 Minutes. Stars: ***½ Verdict: First filmed in 1926 with Warner Baxter, this second film-noir screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel of Jazz Age bootlegger Jay Gatsby who learns the hard way about the wages of sin is considered by many as the quintessential version. Screen great Alan Ladd is right at the top of his game with a flawless performance as the legendary Jay Gatsby. The stellar cast also includes Betty Field as Daisy Buchanan, Macdonald Carey as Nick Carraway and two time Academy award winner Shelley Winters as Myrtle Wilson. Directed with a firm grip by Elliott Nugent (The Cat and the Canary) and respectfully and intelligently co-written with great depth and produced by future James Bond 007 screenwriter Richard Maibaum, this haunting classic of romance and tragedy, sitting in a vault for over six decades, is a real treat to experience and cherish!
Max is back
Top 10 Lists
THE AUSTRALIAN BOX OFFICE TOP TEN: 1. THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. 2. UNFRIENDED. 3. FAST AND FURIOUS 7. 4. CINDERELLA. 5. THE AGE OF ADALINE. 6. PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2. 7. THE LONGEST RIDE. 8. HOME. 9. WHILE WE'RE YOUNG. 10. BOYCHOIR. NEW RELEASES AND COMING SOON TO CINEMAS AROUND AUSTRALIA: MAY 7: CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA, EX MACHINA, PITCH PERFECT 2, THE REWRITE. MAY 14: A ROYAL NIGHT OUT, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE.
● Mel Gibson as the post-apocalyptic hero in the highly influential action film Mad Max ■ With the buzz surrounding the re- nity holed up in a walled-off, oil-proturn of Australia's own unique post- ducing compound, which is under apocalyptic world now at fever-pitch, constant attack from a band of bloodwith everyone waiting to see what thirsty criminals who want the oil for wonders George Miller has created themselves. for Mad Max : Fury Road, many fans Miller and his crew take this simple will cast their eyes back on the one- premise to a whole new level, delivof-a-kind, highly acclaimed trilogy. ering some of the most incredible car Now is the perfect time to re-visit stunts ever put on film, helped along this landmark series, which are all by Dean Semler's exemplary cinemaavailable on DVD and Blu-Ray. tography and razor-sharp editing by Michael Balson, David Stiven and Tim Wellburn. Add to this imaginative costume ■ (R) (1979). 93 minutes. *****. and production design (work which Tense and brutal action/thriller set was imitated for years by film-makin the near-future, where the police ers right around the globe), and you are finding it difficult to deal with a have a truly exciting movie that will rampant crime rate, and gangs have be remembered forever. taken over the highways. Max (a perfectly cast Mel Gibson) is a highway patrolman whose life is turned upside down when this vicious world lands on his doorstep. Co-writer/director George Miller, ■ (M) (1985). 106 minutes. ***. Second sequel sees Max again inspired by The Wild One and the Roger Corman-produced bikie films helping a small group of innocents, of the 60s and early 70s, crafts a movie but a softer approach and a less-intergallery of characters makes this that is totally original in its own right, esting easily the weakest in the series. and with the help of a talented techniThe film is actually quite similar cal crew and stunt team, gives audi- in construction to Return Of The Jedi, ences a thrilling and confronting ex- as it is broken up into three distinct perience they will never forget. sections. This is the film that put Gibson on The first, involving Max being inthe map, but everyone in the cast ac- troduced to Bartertown and its leader quits themsleves well, including a (quite well-played by Tina Turner), scene-stealing Steve Bisley. and the third, an elaborate, vehicular David Eggby's terrific widescreen free-for-all stylishly executed in the cinematography deserves special desert, is jarringly split up by a midpraise. section that concentrates on a collection of annoyingly cute kids. Ewoks come to mind as these children test our patience with their forc■ (MA) (1981). 94 minutes. *****. ibly adorable behaviour. Mind-blowing sequel is still one of Apparently George Miller didn't the most impressive action films ever fully want to do a third Mad Max film, made, and one that had a huge influ- and that certain level of disinterest ence on world cinema. seems to filter through to Gibson's Set some years after the original, performance, which lacks the genuwe see that society has collapsed, with ine conviction shown in the previous Australia now a lawless environment two entries. Still worth watching. where it is every man for himself. - Aaron Rourke Driving through this wasteland is DVDs and Blu-Rays kindly supplied Max (Gibson), who like everyone else by Video Vision, 177-179 Carlisle now is just searching for that one pre- Street, Balaclava. For information or cious commodity - petrol. bookings on these titles please call Max inadvertantly becomes a hero 9531 2544, or check online at when he helps out a small commu- videovisiondvd.com.au
Mad Max
Mad Max Thunderdome
Mad Max 2
THE DVD AND BLU-RAY TOP RENTALS & SALES: 1. THE IMITATION GAME [Drama/ Historical/Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley]. 2. INTO THE WOODS [Fantasy/ Music/Adventure/James Corden, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt]. 3. INTERSTELLAR [Sci-Fi/Adventure/Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain]. 4. MR. TURNER [Drama/Timothy Spall, Paul Jeeson]. 5. PADDINGTON [Family/Comedy/ Adventure/Hugh Bonneville, Nicole Kidman]. 6. ST. VINCENT [Comedy/Drama/ Bill Murray, Naomi Watts, Melissa McCarthy]. 7. HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 [Comedy/Jason Bateman, Jennifer Anistion, Jamie Foxx]. 8. PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR [Animated/Family/Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Miller]. 9. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 3 Secret of the Tomb [Adventure/ Ben Stiller, Robin Williams]. 10. EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS [Action/Drama/Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton]. Also: ANNIE, THE HOBBIT: The Battle of the Five Armies, ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY, THE DROP, THE HUNGER GAMES: Mockingjay - Part 1, NIGHTCRAWLER, THE WATER DIVINER, GONE GIRL, BIG HERO 6, GET ON UP. NEW RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS ON DVD THIS WEEK: UNBROKEN [Drama/Jack O'Connell, Takamasa Ishihara, Jai Courtney, Domhnall Gleeson]. BLACKHAT [Crime/Mystery/Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis]. DUMB AND DUMBER TO [Comedy/Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels]. NEW RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS ON BLURAY THIS WEEK: UNBROKEN [Drama/Jack O'Connell, Takamasa Ishihara, Jai Courtney, Domhnall Gleeson]. BLACKHAT [Crime/Mystery/Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis]. DUMB AND DUMBER TO [Comedy/Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels]. JURASSIC PARK [1993/Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Laura Dern]. JURASSIC PARK: The Lost World (1997/Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Richard Attenborough]. Turn To Page 55