Pitt plays James Belmont, a grizzled military veteran with as many mental scars as those that cover his body. His only companion is Odin, a German Shepherd who is himself a retired military combat dog. He too wears the scars of war with titanium teeth and a prosthetic leg. Odin also suffers from PTSD and has nightmares. Their bond is an unbreakable one forged in battle.

The story begins with Belmont and Odin flying a small aircraft to an incredibly beautiful and isolated river in the wilderness of Alaska. A small respite of their solitude is provided by the appearance of a mountain man character played by J. K. Simmons. His presence has an undertone of danger. When a storm rolls in, Belmont and Odin fly out. During this flight, Belmont suffers a heart attack and the plane crashes, thus beginning the survivalist journey back to civilisation.

The threats to life and limb during this journey are absolutely relentless and rivet your attention. Even though the task seems superhuman, things are kept in the realm of human ability. You grow to absolutely admire the bond between human and canine and the love and care that they feel for each other. You become incredibly invested in their outcome, and at the film’s end it takes you some time to return to normal. This is filmmaking at its most compelling.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/ParamountPicturesAU/

Those wild gadgets would alway carry the Acme label, and the brand suffered from extreme quality-control issues. They never worked as advertised, and those products inform the story here. The film starts with a bit of industrial maleficence and then jumps to some Road Runner versus Coyote action. It looks magnificent on the big screen and sets the visual tone for what follows.

The mix of live action and cartoon characters has been done before (think Who Framed Roger Rabbit) but never in quite this fashion. Even the real actors chosen for the main roles (Will Forte and John Cena) have more than a bit of cartoon ethos in them. Forte as the lawyer who takes on the case against the big conglomerate Acme on behalf of Wile E. Coyote hits the right marks to give the fight a proper David and Goliath feel.

Drawing a parallel with the overabundance of power modern corporations now wield, the court scenes are especially topical. The satisfaction of the little guy coming out ahead is especially apparent when Wile E. captures the baddies with a great Rube Goldberg contraption. This film is surprisingly accessible for audiences of all ages and, looking for context in relation to events of today, has an underlying sense of subversion. Now the only thing missing is a breakfast bowl of rainbow coloured sugar.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/PinnacleFilmsAU

Together, they are forced into a brutal fight for survival against the elements. From acclaimed filmmaker David Ayer, Heart of the Beast is an intense adventure thriller that explores the unbreakable bond between a man and his best friend as they face their greatest battle yet.

Starring Brad Pitt, J.K. Simmons, Anna Lamb, Heart of the Beast will be released in Aussie cinemas September 24!
www.facebook.com/ParamountPicturesAU/

This Boxing Day, Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan are reunited in Jumanji: Open World, the hilarious final instalment of the globally beloved action-adventure trilogy.

Our heroes have escaped the perilous jungles of Jumanji before, but this time Jumanji breaks free of its console, unleashing its chaos into our world.
www.facebook.com/SonyPicturesAUS/

This latest chapter is the fourth Spidey film with Tom Holland in the lead, and he continues to give the character a more human ethos than just about any other superhero of note. He is affected by self-doubts and the sacrifices he had to make to keep his friends safe. This continues to lead him down the road to a fairly lonely existence. Brand New Day ultimately addresses that and gives more than a glimmer of hope.

The isolation he feels because of Dr Stephen Strange’s spell that was enacted in the previous chapter, No Way Home, is in full effect. None of his closest friends or even his lover MJ, played by real-world wife Zendaya, know him at all. His sense of duty is the only thing that keeps him going, as there is little else in his life to bring him joy. The sadness in his lodgings and his lifestyle is palpable.

There are so many moments that lit up the audience on the night; it makes one feel that they need a bit more background detail to engage fully. The cinematography is also a challenge with the almost constant shifts of both perspective and direction in its action scenes. This approach also necessitates a very large amount of CGI-created set design, which tends to distance you from the proceedings. Spider-Man: Brand New Day integrates more characters from the MCU than any chapter before, but it still keeps most of its outsider charm intact.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/SonyPicturesAUS/

Most will be familiar with the heroic tale of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, and his journey home after fighting in the ten-year-long Trojan War; even those who are fuzzy on the fine details will remember the hollow horse. A blend of the harsh realities of the time mixed with a plethora of fantastical monsters and supernatural hazards leaves the film palette wide open for the imagination to run rampant. The current state of industrial technology also helps expand possibilities.

The sound design is also worthy of note, and if the cinema you choose can deliver the SPL needed to reach the intended decibels, you might want to bring earplugs; the volume level is that visceral. The relentless pace allows very little downtime, so make sure to secure plenty of snacks too. The first third of the film’s narrative follows Nolan’s preferred nonlinear timeline before settling into a more conventional arc until the end.

Technical notes aside, this is a work of colossal effort from both cast and crew. Nolan’s insistence on filming entirely with the overly large format IMAX cameras and shunning the use of green screen technology and subjecting the cast to real-world conditions restates the need for the force of will at play. This film asks much of its audience, and not just of their time, but it delivers an unrivalled cinematic experience. It does become a work for the ages.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

Dwayne Johnson AKA the Rock, returns as the demigod Maui, and this time he arrives with a head full of luxurious locks! He and Catherine have an easy and very modern rapport, and their riffing off each other provides the film’s backbone of humour. Jemaine Clement continues to inhabit the visage of the giant monster coconut crab, Tamatoa, and the look is bedazzled and spectacularly over-the-top.

Even though this work is considered live action, the majority of the scenery is computer-generated, and it looks spectacular, as do the sea creatures. The Kakamora, those pint-sized, savage pirates, are more cute than threatening and remind one of the Ewoks from the Star Wars world. The monsters of the deep are mostly absent, and the most serious opposition comes from Te Kā, a fiery monster with a softer side.

There is no real departure from the storyline from the first film and fans of that work will feel right at home. The breaking out of the occasional song is less obtrusive than most and does little to dilute the film’s forward momentum. Sitting next to the little one was a lot of fun, and seeing her look of wonderment at the spectacle that was on screen was the highlight of the evening for me.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/DisneyAUNZ/

DreamWorks Animation, the studio that brought you unforgettable bonds between a boy and a dragon in How to Train Your Dragon, an ogre and a donkey in Shrek, and a robot and a gosling in The Wild Robot, now welcomes a dazzling and emotional story about two lifelong best friends who must come together before they drift apart in Forgotten Island.

The new original film is written and directed by Academy Award® nominee Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado and is produced by Academy Award® nominee Mark Swift, the filmmaking team behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Grammy and Academy Award® winning supernova H.E.R. and Liza Soberano (Lisa Frankenstein, Alone/Together) star as high school graduates Jo and Raissa, who have been best friends since grade school but are now about to embark on separate life paths.

While celebrating their last night together, Jo and Raissa stumble upon a mysterious portal that transports them to the fantastical island of Nakali, packed with magical and mythological creatures they grew up hearing stories about from their Filipino families.

Some of these figures will become friends, some foes. Joined by well-meaning-but- hapless weredog Raww (Dave Franco) and a small-but-mighty pack of pals, Jo and Raissa must face The Dreaded Manananggal (Tony winning icon Lea Salonga), the most feared creature on the island. When they discover that the memories of their entire friendship are the price for returning home, Jo and Raissa will race to find a way to leave the island before they forget each other forever.

The film’s all-star voice cast also includes Emmy nominee Jenny Slate (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Dying for Sex), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place, Top Gun: Maverick), BAFTA nominee Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness, Ghostlight), global comedy superstar Jo Koy (Haunted Mansion, Jo Koy: Live from Brooklyn) and Emmy winner Ronny Chieng (The Daily Show, M3GAN).

DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island is distributed by Universal Pictures.
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

The Odyssey stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson and Lupita Nyong’o, with Zendaya and Charlize Theron.

The Odyssey is produced by Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan for their company, Syncopy. The executive producer is Thomas Hayslip.

The Odyssey will be released in Australian cinemas July 16!
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

The Australian connections run deep with this film as both director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya and Cruella) and Supergirl herself, Milly Alcock (House Of The Dragon), are from the land down under. The Antipodes approach permeates the feel of the film, and this outsider attitude unfortunately misses as much as it hits. There are also some strange thematic choices that bleed some of the interest away.

They introduce Krypto the Superdog early, and his presence in one of the few light moments in what is a very dark film, but then relegate him to a circumstance that keeps him off-screen almost the entire film. Almost all the scenes are also set in a very low-light world, and the film looks quite dull. The innate humour between the loose at the seams Supergirl and her straight-laced cousin Superman (David Corenswet) is also an under-utilised element.

All is not lost, though, for fans of one of DC’s most overlooked characters, Lobo. This bounty hunter from the peaceful planet Czarnia (of whom he killed the entire population) is played with real swagger by Jason Momoa. He’s a bad guy you love to hate, and he chews up every scene he’s in with an exciting amount of ferocity. As an introduction of the Supergirl character to the rebooted universe, it only partially succeeds, but as a first seen film version of Lobo, it gets top marks.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/WarnerBrosAU/