Marvel’s little film is a big success (★★★★ Directed by Peyton Reed) Ants are amazing little creatures. Creative, industrious and strong, yet all but invisible – it’s hardly surprising that one of Marvel Comics’ superheroes would draw his powers from little old Lasius niger, the black garden ant. One of the first Avengers, Ant-Man is the latest Super … More REVIEW: Ant-Man
Human stories have always been at the heart of disaster films, but a recent release questions whether humans deserve heroic status next to mighty monsters. Hollywood likes to play fast and loose with our irrational fears in its big budget blockbusters. In the 1990s it was asteroids (Armageddon, Deep Impact) and aliens (Independence Day). In … More FILM: Monster mash
With Mother Nature is playing fast and lose with the weather and the School Holidays upon us, it pays to have a couple of rainy day options to keep the kids amused. The Girl In Row K checks out some moving options. It’s jolly old Easter and that means the first school holidays of the year. … More FILM: Cinema a holiday retreat
One for hopeless romantics and 8-year-olds (★★★★ Directed by Kenneth Branagh.) Loathe though I am to admit it, I might just be a little too hard-hearted to really enjoy this new version of Cinderella. Fair enough too, since director Kenneth Branagh’s target audience is at least half (OK, an eighth) of my age, which is … More REVIEW: Cinderella
From the ancient legend of lady-maker Pygmalion, to 80s classics The Terminator and Blade Runner with it’s ‘‘more human than human’’ killing machines, artificial people, have titillated and terrified us in equal measure. Robots can be anything from comic sidekicks to apocalyptic threats, often telling us more about what it means to be human than to … More FILM: Mechanical family
If you thought 2014 was a big year for cinematic spectacle, you ain’t seen nothing yet. In January it’s all about the Oscars as we start getting the big hitting contenders for the Academy Awards. (A word to International readers – these are Kiwi release dates, sometimes much later that the rest of the world!) … More PREVIEW: Big names vie for 2015 box office
This is a 3 Second Review: If you’re willing to hop on board Wes Anderson’s bendy tour bus of weird delights, then a stay at The Grand Budapest Hotel will be a most restorative retreat from reality. With more symmetrical shots, long dolly rides and theatrical sets than ever before, Anderson’s film, within an autobiography, within … More REVIEW: The Grand Budapest Hotel
With a deluge of violent young-adult flicks at the multiplex, what’s so fascinating about torturing teens on the silver screen? In The Hunger Games, a young woman named Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) sacrifices herself to save her sister and ends up a killer. In Ender’s Game, a militarised government claims Ender (Asa Butterfield) and trains him to … More FILM: Nightmares make gold
Vampiric romance raises the dead (★★★★, written and directed by Jim Jarmusch) Remember when vampires were cool? When David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve donned Katherine Hamnett suits and sunglasses to stalk the cavernous rock clubs of New York for their human prey in The Hunger. Or when Keifer Sutherland lead his gang of surly … More REVIEW: Only Lovers Left Alive
I love April, the nights draw in the clock fall back and the cinema begins to shine as the Northern Hemisphere’s summer releases start to trickle downunder. This month yields a particularly juicy crop of popcorn toppers. Have a look… Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo) Marvel gets political … More PREVIEW: Five films not to miss in April
