Into this maelstrom of conflicting worldviews and anxiety comes the film Klara and the Sun. With the intention of presenting a different view and kinder outlook on the future, humanist writer/director Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Jojo Rabbit & Thor: Ragnarok) delivers a work of vivid contrasts. It is based on the novel of the same name by the writer Kazuo Ishiguro,

It’s all set in a dystopian future where parents genetically modify their children and then homeschool them, which forces said adults to purchase robots for companionship. One such robot is Klara, played with consummate skill by Jenna Ortega, who is utterly charming in the role. She is paired up with Josie (Mia Tharia), a young woman deathly ill from the effects of the procedure they call “lifted”.

This examination of a future where humans and machines live a life of comfortable coexistence feels fresh and optimistic. However unique the film feels, it’s firmly positioned between several signposts of influence, the chief of which are the look and feel of a Tim Burton film and the futurist musings of computer scientist, author and techno-optimist Ray Kurzweil. It’s an appealing addition to Waititi’s ever-growing catalogue of work.
Rob Hudson
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Based on the bestselling novel from Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro and written and directed by Academy-Award® winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit), Klara and the Sun introduces audiences to Klara (Jenna Ortega), an Artificial Friend who wants nothing more than to find the perfect home.

When Klara meets Josie (Mia Tharia), each immediately senses a kindred spirit in the other. Josie has a fraught relationship with her mother (Amy Adams)and they’ve suffered great loss, but Klara’s innocent wonder and unwavering loyalty begin to heal the family and bring light to Josie’s complicated world.

Starring Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy with Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne, Klara and the Sun will be released October 22
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When Klara meets Josie (Mia Tharia), each immediately senses a kindred spirit in the other. Josie has a fraught relationship with her mother (Amy Adams) and they’ve suffered great loss, but Klara’s innocent wonder and unwavering loyalty begin to heal the family and bring light to Josie’s complicated world.

Starring Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy with Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne, Klara and the Sun will be released in Aussie cinemas October 22!
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Unfortunately, it isn’t the quick fix she had hoped for. Suburbia has a whole new set of rules and a local queen bee, Malvina Monroe (Maya Rudolph), who makes Giselle feel more out of place than ever. Frustrated that her happily ever after hasn’t been so easy to find, she turns to the magic of Andalasia for help, accidentally transforming the entire town into a real-life fairy tale and placing her family’s future happiness in jeopardy. Now, Giselle is in a race against time to reverse the spell and determine what happily ever after truly means to her and her family.

Disenchanted stars Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Maya Rudolph, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jayma Mays, Gabriella Baldacchino, with Idina Menzel and James Marsden. Directed by Adam Shankman from a screenplay by Brigitte Hales and a story by J. David Stem & David N. Weiss and Richard LaGravenese, “Disenchanted” is produced by Barry Josephson, Barry Sonnenfeld, and Amy Adams, with Jo Burn, Sunil Perkash, and Adam Shankman serving as executive producers. The movie features songs with music by 8-time Oscar®-winning composer Alan Menken and lyrics by three-time Oscar-winning lyricist Stephen Schwartz, whose work on “Enchanted” garnered three Academy Award® nominations and a score by Alan Menken.

Disney’s “Disenchanted” begins streaming November 24, 2022, only on Disney+. .

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Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Wonder), the film is written for the screen by the show’s Tony winner Steven Levenson with music and lyrics by the show’s Oscar®, Grammy and Tony-winning song writing team of Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (La La Land, The Greatest Showman).

Featuring hit Grammy winning songs, including the iconic anthem “You Will Be Found” “Waving Through a Window” “For Forever”and “Words Fail” Dear Evan Hansen stars six -time Oscar® nominee Amy Adams, Oscar® winner Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) and Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give).

The acclaimed cast also includes Nik Dodani (Netflix’s Atypical), DeMarius Copes (Broadway’s Mean Girls) and Danny Pino (NBC’s Law & Order : Special Victims Unit).

Dear Evan Hansen is produced by legendary Oscar®-nominated producer Marc Platt (La La Land, Into the Woods, Mary Poppins Returns) and by Adam Siegel (2 Guns, Drive), and is executive produced by Michael Bederman, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Dear Evan Hansen will be released in Australian cinemas September 23!
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Amy Adams is Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist expert that the government recruits to help communicate with one of the alien entities that have arrived at twelve points around the globe. She is the soul of the story. Joining her is Jeremy Renner as Ian Donnelly, a theoretical physicist with a very well developed sense of wonder about the world.

The story is told in a non-linear manner and subsequently every scene must be paid attention too. The film is also shot with a very subdued colour palate and it adds to both its creepiness and the requirement to remain aware. The cast is quite small; so all the players are given a lot to do.

For a genre that is so hit or miss on the big screen, Arrival only looses its footing on rare occasions. There are a few bits of dialogue that could have easily been left on the cutting room floor and the film somewhat squanders a perfect point to end by overstating a point already made succinct. These are minor squabbles as overall the film is story telling as a very high level.

Rob Hudson
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The always-outstanding British actor Christian Bale lays to rest the man in black for the new man in fat. His visual transformation is just one element of his transcendent performance. He has to act his butt off just to transcend that hairdo of his. Jennifer Lawrence adds to her building resume of great performances as Bale’s on screen wife who is both hilarious and clueless.
Bradley Cooper’s manic drug fuelled performance is also outstanding. Now no discussion of great roles in this film would be complete without discussing the part the wardrobe plays in this film. The seventies hair and fashion defies gravity and the specter of soft-core porn with some wicked comb overs, hair curlers and well placed double sided adhesive tape.

Thankfully the saying ‘if you remember the seventies, you weren’t actually alive in the seventies’ is proven untrue as both the director and actors get the nuances just right. See this film for the humour and spectacle, remember it for the human pathos and misguided sense of right and wrong.

Rob Hudson
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The film is both wildly inventive and unafraid to take its audience members into some very dark places. It follows Chaney from his blue collar beginnings to his place on the highest rungs of power. With stops along the way for three heart attacks, an accidental shooting of a 78 year old Texas attorney while quail hunting and the reciting of Shakespeare before shagging his wife Lynne played with a power hungry intensity by Amy Adams.

Those moments and many more are presented with a tongue-in-cheek approach. This includes a first set of closing credits midway through the film, a voiceover subject whose place in Chaney’s life is only revealed at film’s end and a unflinching view of an open heart surgery. Throughout McKay has great fun defying the conventions of the cinema.

Vice is a film that shows the naked truth of blind ambition and the depths some people will go to acquire power and material wealth. It also puts in focus how broken the American system of politics actually is. Thankfully it will make you laugh to keep you from crying in despair.

Rob Hudson
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Oscar winning writer/director Adam McKay (The Big Short) brings his trademark wit to the true story of US Vice President Dick Cheney in Vice. George W. Bush (Rockwell) wins the 2000 election, but it’s Cheney (Bale) who quietly takes charge, wielding his newfound power as vice president to reshape the country and the world – with lasting consequences.

Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell are at the top of their game, delivering hilarious, uncanny portrayals of America’s most powerful players. A film about those who have power, those who want power, and those who abuse it, Vice is a smart, irreverent comedy-drama that will shock and entertain in equal measure.

Written and directed by Adam McKay and starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell, VICE is in Australian cinemas December 26!
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Elsewhere, Jason Momoa is actually able to make the Aquaman character seem cool and fast forwarding Wonder Woman’s arc allows Gal Gadot to act more naturally. It’s still at heart a comic book movie and this finds everything in overdrive, even the final battle is so over the top as to defy description. The CGI graphics are more moody and less photorealistic than other franchises and this gives the film its own look and feel.

One of the few minor letdowns is in the character of the Big Bad and without giving away too much, they are just a bit too generic. The balance between the recruitment and formation of the Justice League is finely sequenced but the final reel and its big battle is the film’s least successful element.

Also be warned DC has now fully jumped on the Marvel bandwagon and make sure to stay until the very end so as not to miss the coda at the end of the credits.

Rob Hudson
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