NEW RELEASES
Hard Problem: The latest play by Tom Stoppard directed by Nick Hytner, this NT Live production isn’t an easy ride but it challenges audiences to engage with the issues and arguments around science and the mind. Fast-paced with brilliant performances. **** DdB
Little Chaos: Alan Rickman directs an understated Kate Winslet and a restrained Matthias Schoonaerts in a period drama about the design of the garden around the Versailles Palace in what was then the Paris countryside. *** TS
Mad Max: Fury Road: This bonkers, adrenaline-fuelled drive through an eerily beautiful dystopian desert is crammed full of impossible stunts and a welcome dose of female power. **** TS
Pitch Perfect 2: Elizabeth Banks directs a perfectly pitched sequel with more Fat Amy Jokes, lots of music and a bit of a lesson about growing up and facing the world. **** TS
You’re Not You: As a classical pianist with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Hilary Swank delivers an emotionally and physically committed performance that significantly elevates the sometimes mawkish material. *** HR
ON CIRCUIT
Avengers: Age of Ultron: Joss Whedon’s stamp is all over this comic book sequel with witty one-liners, frenetic action and an underlying sense of dread as the superheroes unleash a supervillain on the world. **** TS
American Sniper: With well-choreographed fight sequences and hyper-real sets this film resembles a role-playing video game featuring a sniper out to kill people. Bradley Cooper bulks up and turns off the charm, but this is not about the US’ fight on terror, it is about one person’s perspective. *** TS
Beyond the Reach: Does not deliver on the promised goofy cat-and-mouse genre pleasures, wasting a villainous turn from Michael Douglas. ** HR
Child 44: Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace’s strong performances are gripping, but the labyrinth storyline of this character study set in 50s Russia takes a long time to get done. *** TS
Cinderella: Kenneth Branagh gives the Disney fairytale a lush real-life makeover, even if it does drag at times. *** WP
Dear White People: Cleverly scripted film about the state of race relations in the US, using a fictitious Ivy League university as the flashpoint. **** TS
Desert Dancer: A melodramatic retelling of dancer Afshin Gaffarian who risked his and his friends’ lives to start an underground dance company in 2009 Iran, which is more clichéd dance movie than context for what is happening in the country. ** TS
Do You Believe: If you don’t already know the answer to the question, this melodramatic and shallow film is not for you. ** HR
Far From the Madding Crowd: Tom Hardy’s book is turned into a film which explains the main character in a way the source material never made clear. Beautifully filmed and well acted. **** TS
Focus: Though it has too many twists and turns, this one almost skates by on the glamourous setting and effortless charm of actors Will Smith and Margo Robbie. ** IND
Furious 7: This latest sequel is a sentimental last hurrah for Paul Walker, filled with fast cars and impossible stunts. *** TS
Get Hard: Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart are wasted on tired and offensive gags instead of allowed to take advantage of the comedy’s potential to break boundaries. ** WP
Hear Me Move: A high-energy South African dance film set against the backdrop of a dramatic coming-of-age story that is bound to be a hit with dance flick fans. **** LN
Home: Issues around friendship, compassion, family and loyalty are relayed in the light-hearted and funny story of Oh and Tip and their adventure into friendship. *** LN
Lullaby: Other than Richard Jenkins playing a dying man, the cast of this family drama about assisted suicide is wasted on clichéd behaviour. Compassionate story, but it doesn’t answer any questions. *** HR
Paul Blart Mall Cop 2: This unnecessary sequel makes the original look like an unheralded classic. What happens in Vegas, should have just stayed there. * HR
Project Almanac: The wit and original idea are swept away by the irritating found-footage camera work and pedestrian story. ** HR
Run All Night: Liam Neeson is in great form, but the plot is convoluted and everyone is dialling in their performances. *** HR
Saint Laurent: Really long, filled with gorgeous costumes, posing models and lots of smoke, this biopic of Yves Saint Laurent is flamboyant in look, but tedious in feel. ** TS
Serial (Bad) Weddings: French comedy about the problems a white Catholic couple have with their daughters’ choice to marry non-white non-Catholic men. (Not reviewed)
She’s Funny That Way: If only the title were more true. ** HR
Somer Son: Clichéd meandering under the Mozambican sun apparently prompts romantic white South Africans to hire the local black man to bring some more alcoholic drinks. * TS
Still Alice: Heroic yet harrowing tale of a woman whose life and livelihood depend on her love of language, but Alzheimers is stripping away her mind and therefore her very self. Julianne Moore is scarily sublime with an extraordinary supporting cast. **** DdB
The Book of Life: brightly animated children’s film which introduces the idea that death is but a journey, using Mexican folklore and history with heavy emphasis on Santa Muerte art. *** TS
The Duff: Not your typical high school comedy. Funny enough to keep you entertained; but with heart, charm and a sense of maturity in its storyline. *** LN
The Imitation Game: Benedict Cumberbatch is compelling in this haunting biopic about Alan Turing, the mathematician widely credited as the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. **** TS
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: The star-studded cast from the original are back in India in a humorous, poignant take on life that will lift your spirits. **** LdM
The Theory of Everything: It’s all about the performances of Eddie Redmayne (who was rewarded with an Oscar) and Felicity Jones as Stephen Hawking and his wife Jane on whose book it is based. A story of love rather than science. DdB
Unfinished Business: Unfocused and unfunny, this shallow story about friends and business partners embarking on an overseas trip should have been left unfinished. ** HR
Yellowbird: This animated cliché won’t fly with anyone over the age of six. ** HR