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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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning brings the current series to a close and provides a rousing finish. Everything is ramped up to eleven and It pushes improbable to preposterous and remains overdriven throughout its entire 169 minute running time. It barely pauses for a breath. The main characters are firmly defined by now and show minimal growth. There is also a curious lack of humour shown as that break in intensity would have helped with the peak energy moments.

The story follows the worldwide threat of an AI-generated program called the Entity and it mirrors the current fascination and perceived danger and benefit of artificial intelligence. It doesn’t however expand much on the peril this program established in the series so far and focuses more on the human consequences. It also leans into the connection of its main players Cruise as Ethan Hunt, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell and Hayley Atwell as Grace.

This is filmmaking at its most bombastic (and illogical) and deserves to be seen in its largest version, powered by its biggest and loudest sound system. Watching it at home will certainly be fun but will lack the impact and human interaction available in a public setting. Pure escapism takes precedence and is satisfying in the triumph of good over evil. Will this be the last time Cruise and company don the face masks and get the mission details from a smoking device? Only time and box office revenues will tell.
Rob Hudson
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Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Angela Bassett, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Frederick Schmidt, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will be released in Aussie cinemas May 2025!
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Brokers on Wall Street use a technique called Short Selling where they bet on the decline of a company’s fortunes to make money. It’s based on borrowing a stock, selling the stock and then buying the stock back to return it to the lender. If the stock price goes down, then you’ll pay less to replace the shares and make a profit.

If that sounds dubious, it’s probably because it is. Dumb Money follows the story of Keith Gill (Paul Dano) a video blog host who helped to lead a group of investors who bought stock of an American retailer called GameStop. Some big money firms had bet that the company’s stock would decrease in value and saw a way to make money off this misfortune. Gill and the people who followed him turned that around.

Hollywood films can do a great job of making a complex issue understandable but not always without dumbing down the subject matter considerably. This film sidesteps that problem by trusting its audience to follow its narrative and pay attention. For those that do, it’s a riveting and entertaining yarn.
Rob Hudson
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Dumb Money is the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (yes, the mall videogame store) into the world’s hottest company.

In the middle of everything is regular guy Keith Gill (Paul Dano), who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock and posting about it. When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich – until the billionaires fight back, and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.

Dumb Money also stars Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley and Seth Rogen. Directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Lauren Schuker Blum & Rebecca Angelo, based on the book “The Antisocial Network” by Ben Mezrich.
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The battle to defeat them and restore harmony to the LEGO® universe will take Emmet, Lucy, Batman and their friends to faraway, unexplored worlds, including a strange galaxy where everything is a musical. It will test their courage, creativity and Master Building skills, and reveal just how special they really are.

THE LEGO® MOVIE 2 is directed by Mike Mitchell and stars Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Tiffany Haddish, Stephanie Beatriz and Arturo Castro.

THE LEGO® MOVIE 2 releases in Australian cinemas on March 21, 2019.
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