NEW RELEASES
And So It Goes: Late in life rom-com starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton retreading very familiar territory. Bland, by the numbers and not particularly memorable. ** WP
Drive Hard: Thomas Jane and John Cusack in a heist action thriller set in Australia starring a lot of car chase scenes. (not reviewed)
If I Stay: Drippy teen love story complete with lame dialogue and heartstring-yanking music will have the teens swooning and the adults sighing. HH HR
Million Dollar Arm: This Disney produced sports movie is amiable and thoroughly predictable, covering all the bases on its way to its goodhearted ending. More fascinating though is the way it inadvertently shows America’s confused and contradictory attitude towards India. *** IND
Nosotros Los Nobles (The Noble Family): Feel-good Mexican-made satire in which a construction mogul fakes bankruptcy to teach his three children a lesson. (not reviewed)
ON CIRCUIT
Before I go to Sleep: This average thriller totally wastes the talents of Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong. *** HR
Begin Again: This unexpectedly stirring narrative tells the tale of love and lives lost and regained, sketched within the framework of the hesitant, unassuming world of indie music versus the flashy, rapacious, razzle-dazzle of the music industry. *** LdM
Between Friends: Tyler Perry meets The Wild with a generous streak of Generations. * TS
Boyhood: Richard Linklater takes his time to tell the story of one child’s boyhood. While the technicality of filming is handled on an epic scale, the story, which delves into the human condition, is intimate. **** TS
Calvary: Brendon Gleeson gives a strong performance as a good-hearted Catholic priest being held to account for the sins of the church in an eccentric little Irish village. **** TS
Chef: Jon Favreu directs himself in another version of his Happy character from Iron Man with great food shots, oddball cameo roles and a few sharp lines in this feel-good movie. *** TS
Die Spook Van Uniondale: The premise is based on the legendary ghost story from that neck of the woods, but then they turned it into a folksy family tale rather than a ghoulish tale which would have been an edgier option. ** DdB
Guardians of the Galaxy: Fun, epic ride through outer space with Star-Lord and his misfits because someone has to save the universe. **** TS
Hercules: Dwayne Johnson rocks the loincloth in Brett Ratner’s take on a graphic novel. With well choreographed action sequences. *** TS
House of Magic 3D: Animated 3d adventure about a kitten that stumbles into a magical house and decides he really wants to live there.(Not reviewed)
How to Train Your Dragon 2 3D: The dragonriders of Berk are back, but Toothless steals the show. Exquisite flying sequences, meticulously animated with a strong, meaty storyline. **** TS
Into the Storm: A bunch of tornadoes descend on a small town and the residents have to decide to run and hide or study patterns and evade. Impressive graphics, but you’ve seen this before. ** MV
Let’s Be Cops: This would-be comedy does nothing with the admittedly strong chemistry between leads Damon Wayans Jr and Jake Johnson. * WP
Lovelace: Amanda Seyfried plays Linda Lovelace, the girl with the golden throat, but it’s Sharon Stone and Peter Sarsgaard who steal the show. *** PE
Lucy: Le Femme Nikita meets The Fifth Element, which is cool on the one hand because it’s aaaaalll Luc Besson. But this is just Besson unfocused. *** BG
Mr Morgan’s Last Love: Michael Caine’s strong performance is not enough to save this one from its mawkishness. ** HR
Suurlemoen: Afrikaans teenage skater comedy based on a popular book. (Not reviewed)
Tammy: Melissa McCarthy goes OTT in the title role of this comedy, co-produced and co-written by her. She plays a loser who goes on a road trip with her granny, Pearl (Susan Sarandon), and they get into all kinds of trouble. Sadly, it isn’t as funny as hinted at in the trailer. ** DT
The Giver: Director Phillip Noyce evokes the visual splendour of Lois Lowry’s book, but none of the thought-provoking themes and the ending is just plain lazy. ** HR
The Hundred Foot Journey: Lasse Hallström directs Helen Mirren in a predictable feel-good dramedy. *** HR
Venus in Fur: Roman Polanski directs Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric in the filmic version of the award-winning Broadway play. *** WP
Wish I was Here: While this has all the overly sentimental dialogue, musical crutches and pensive Zach Braff close-ups that annoyed viewers of Garden State, this also touches on timely themes with artistic vulnerability. So ask yourself, do you like the guy’s work or not? *** WP