SMURFS features an all-star voice cast including Rihanna, James Corden, Nick Offerman, JP Karliak, Daniel Levy, Amy Sedaris, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Maya Erskine, Billie Lourd, Xolo Maridueña with Kurt Russell and John Goodman.
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The story revolves around the efforts of a CIA operative Tony Mendez (Affleck) who concocts and implements a fantastical plan to help six American diplomats escape from Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. The plan to have them escape by posing as members of a film crew making a science fiction film called Argo sounds like a plan that only Hollywood types could come up with and that is partially true.

Two real tinsel town insiders’ help with the plan and the two played by John Goodman and Alan Arkin give the film some of its funniest moments as well as a great catch line, which can’t be repeated here. The views from inside the machinations of the US government also add to the heightened sense of both intrigue and tension.

The film plays fast as loose with a lot of the actual facts of the story but this is a small complaint as the end results will leave you with sweaty palms and rapid breathing during the final moments of the escape. With the years ticking by and more and more amazing real life tales becoming a matter of public record, here’s to hoping that if they make movie versions of those real life tales, they are done as well and engaging as this one.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/roadshow

The story revolves around actions set in Berlin during the last dying days of the communist separation of that city. An end that came to fruition in 1989. As is evident in all good period pieces, the fashions and social values of the day are also the stars. The film pulsates with a great eighties soundtrack that adds even more to the feel of the decade the film is set in.

Theron as said super spy is impossibly skilled at her job and she plays it as badass as any male actor could. It becomes less about gender and more about the power of her intent and intellect. James McAvoy, impressive as aways plays a super sleazy fellow agent and the two provide a fair amount of sparks on screen.

As with all good spy yarns, there are double crosses and triple crosses and you don’t know it’s over till it’s over. And then when you think you’ve finally figured it all out, they throw that final surprise at you. It’s a roller coaster ride.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU

The story revolves around actions set in Berlin during the last dying days of the communist separation of that city. An end that came to fruition in 1989. As is evident in all good period pieces, the fashions and social values of the day are also the stars. The film pulsates with a great eighties soundtrack that adds even more to the feel of the decade the film is set in.

Theron as said super spy is impossibly skilled at her job and she plays it as badass as any male actor could. It becomes less about gender and more about the power of her intent and intellect. James McAvoy, impressive as aways plays a super sleazy fellow agent and the two provide a fair amount of sparks on screen.

As with all good spy yarns, there are double crosses and triple crosses and you don’t know it’s over till it’s over. And then when you think you’ve finally figured it all out, they throw that final surprise at you. It’s a roller coaster ride.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/AtomicBlondeAU

Sent alone into Berlin to retrieve a priceless dossier from within the destabilized city, she partners with embedded station chief David Percival (James McAvoy) to navigate her way through a deadly game of spies.

Starring Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Sofia Boutella, Toby Jones and John Goodman, ATOMIC BLONDE is In cinemas August 3.
www.atomicblonde.com

The cast is chock full of Hollywood A-Listers including a man of the moment, Tom Hiddleston, the always popular Samuel L. Jackson (in a bad guy role) and even an attempt at some form of indie cred with Brie Larson, here getting her best Lara Croft on following her star turn in Room. The other A-Lister is that big bad monkey man, who this time out is big but not so bad.

The locations are exotic and the sets are stunning and the emergence of the big guy is played to full dramatic effect. Setting his early arrival amidst the shadows plays well to building the impact of his full reveal. It’s an interesting approach as it gives the film a pacing that engages until the final act as opposed to showing all early and leaving the audience nowhere to go.

The story is a very familiar one and it’s a nod to the filmmaker’s nous that they are so successful at breathing new life into a story so frequently told. Popcorn movies are big and often times bold but few of this ilk work as well as Kong: Skull Island.

Rob Hudson
www.kongskullislandmovie.com

Cut off from everything they know, the team ventures into the domain of the mighty Kong, igniting the ultimate battle between man and nature. As their mission of discovery becomes one of survival, they must fight to escape a primal Eden in which humanity does not belong. In 2017, all hail the King.

KONG: SKULL ISLAND is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and stars Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Tian Jing, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, John Ortiz, Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham, Toby Kebbell, Eugene Cordero, Terry Notary. KONG: SKULL ISLAND releases in Australian cinemas on March 9, 2017.
www.kongskullislandmovie.com

The holiday season comes but once a year – and that’s more than enough for the Cooper family. In this hilarious and heartwarming comedy, the family brace themselves for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. With her marriage on the rocks, Charlotte Cooper (Diane Keaton) has just one wish – to bring the whole family together for one last perfect Christmas. But with grand plans to rekindle the spark in their relationship, Charlotte’s husband Sam (John Goodman) is determined to use the holiday season to win her back. They aren’t the only ones trying to conceal the less than perfect aspects of their lives. Their perennially single daughter Eleanor (Olivia Wilde) persuades a charming soldier (Jake Lacy) she meets at the airport to pose as her boyfriend, and their son Hank (Ed Helms) is struggling with single parenthood. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s sister Emma (Marisa Tomei) has a run-in with the law on the day of the gathering. From the producers of The Family Stone, and boasting an all-star cast, Love the Coopers is a fun, riotous ride through the joy and chaos of Christmas… and nobody does chaos quite like the Coopers.

www.lovethecoopers.com

Competition will be drawn 25 November 2015, winners will be notified by mail.

So it is that Monsters University arrives with much anticipation. The sequel has some mighty shoes to fill and sadly it falls some way short as it is surprisingly bereft of new ideas. What is presented here is simply a ‘further adventures of Mike and Sully’ film that could easily have gone straight to DVD.

The film channels the frat movies of the eighties. While that seems like such a great idea in theory, the potential remains largely unrealised here. Taking most of its cues from Revenge of the Nerds, we see Mike and Sully teaming up with the university geek fraternity to win the day against all odds. What could have been an excellent dual level adult/child animated comedy (a genre pioneered by Pixar) disappointingly remains a resolute kids’ flick.

This is Pixar sleepwalking. Monsters University is the Cars 2 of Pixar’s Monster franchise; it’s an entertaining children’s movie, but it could have been (and should have been) so much more.

Stuart Jamieson
www.monstersuniversity.com