Corny, choppy, and mostly harmless, the inspirational drama Penguin Bloom is based on the true life story of an Australian family who slowly recover from a life altering tragedy with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Naomi Watts
Although it might be biting off more than it can convincingly chew in a single sitting, the smartly written and exceptionally acted drama Luce is great examination of the muddy nature of modern discourse, human selfishness, race, and societal expectations, among other things.
Filmmaker Colin Trevorrow continues his misguided obsession with Speilbergian themes with The Book of Henry, a unwieldy mash-up of a tear jerker and a YA potboiler that suggests maybe the Jurassic World and upcoming Star Wars filmmaker would be better off sticking to megabudget productions than smaller independent films. Like his debut film, Safety Not Guaranteed, Trevorrow proves that he has little to no clue how human beings interact with the world around them, and the left field twists of The Book of Henry come across as some of the most shamelessly manipulative storytelling gambits in recent history because it’s so hard to buy into a story this equally emotionally top heavy and logically implausible.
Between his films In the Name of the Father and Brothers, director Jim Sheridan has shown that he is a director with uncommon skill who knows how to deliver films on difficult topics that also have powerful mood-driven stories. In particular, In The Name of the Father is a classic from the nineties that still carries just as much weight today as when it was released.
Available this week on DVD and Blu-ray: Denzel Washington and Chris Pine star in the runaway train thriller, Unstoppable; plus a look at Woody Allen’s latest comedy, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, starring Antonio Banderas and Josh Brolin.
New this week at a theatre near you: Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis star in the odd-couple comedy, Due Date; Will Ferrell plays the winningly bad bad-guy in the animated comedy, Megamind; and a look at the political thriller, Fair Game, starring Naomi Watts.
A fresh stack of DVDs arrive in stores this week, including the Clint Eastwood drama Gran Torino, The International starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, plus the teen comedy Fired Up.
Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay are set for the battle of the Valentine’s Day box office this weekend, with two distinctly different films. On the one hand, Bay is backing the horror remake Friday the 13th, while Buckheimer produced the escapist comedy Confessions Of A Shopaholic. Also opening this week, Clive Owen stars in the thriller The International, and Under The Sea 3D debuts in IMAX theatres.
In Mulholland Drive, David Lynch weaves a fantastic spectacle that dazzles with acting, imagery, cinematography and an intricately simple story that is deserving of at least a couple of Academy awards. This is Lynch at his best with one of the most wonderous, mind-warping escapades I can think of in recent years and it’s done as a two-part story that could almost be two seperate stories. Except you would have a hard time excavating the first part from the second. It is also almost impossible to realise, as your sitting there in the theatre, where one part ends and the next begins.