Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, the wood carver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy; Keegan-Michael Key is “Honest” John; Academy Award® nominee Lorraine Bracco is Sofia the Seagull, a new character, and Luke Evans is The Coachman. Also in the cast are Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana and Jaquita Ta’Le as her marionette Sabina, Giuseppe Battiston as Stromboli and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick.

In addition to beloved songs from the original animated classic, including “When You Wish Upon a Star” performed by Cynthia Erivo, the film features new original songs composed by Academy Award® nominees Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard (“The Polar Express”).

The screenplay for “Pinocchio” is by Robert Zemeckis & Chris Weitz. Andrew Miano, Chris Weitz, Robert Zemeckis and Derek Hogue are the film’s producers, with Jack Rapke, Jacqueline Levine, Jeremy Johns and Paul Weitz the film’s executive producers.

The film stars Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco, with Cynthia Erivo and Luke Evans.
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In celebration, the streaming service will host special experiences for fans and subscribers, and will premiere new content from its marquee brands, including the return of the beloved Disney franchise in the all-new live action “Pinocchio” on Disney+ Day, September 8. The teaser trailer for the film, starring Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco and Luke Evans, is available now. In addition to “Pinocchio,” Disney+ will announce more Disney+ Day premieres from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic in the coming months.

Academy Award® winner Robert Zemeckis directs this live action retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy. Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, the wood carver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy; Keegan-Michael Key is “Honest” John; Academy Award® nominee Lorraine Bracco is Sofia the Seagull, a new character, and Luke Evans is The Coachman. Also in the cast are Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana (and her marionette Sabina), Giuseppe Battiston as Señor Stromboli and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick.

Robert Zemeckis, Derek Hogue, Andrew Miano, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz are the film’s producers, with Jackie Levine, Jack Rapke, Alexandra Derbyshire and Jeremy Johns the executive producers.
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Looper dives into this environment with a very slick look and some very well known actors (one slightly altered by prostheses). It skirts the line between science fiction and thriller status with a quiet confidence and draws you into more of an examination of the characters lives than a study of the raw science. It has to be said that the technology behind the time travel is hardly mentioned.

It also comments on the emptiness that the day’s technology has created in the lives of the central protagonists. The rock star life style the main character (Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe, the time travelling assassin) is contrasted nicely with the way the average citizen lives in this on-screen created future world. It’s believable that the future techno treats will mostly be the fodder of the rich.

The film’s pace via its editing and non-linear story line demands a bit from the audience and this is a good thing. The world of cinema hardly needs another brain dead science fiction romp. By film’s ends, in line with quality genre standards, you have been entertained but also left with a number of questions about the kind of future world that awaits us.

Rob Hudson
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Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) and fanciers her but takes his time to get up the nerve to ask her out. When he finally does, we get to see the signs of a possible couple being formed at least on Tom’s side. Summer is a bit of a narcissist and never really feels the same way as Tom. He is so smitten he sees in her what he wants to see.

The inevitable break-up hits Tom hard and he goes through a long period of misery. Unfortunately there are a few too many moments when you want to reach through the third wall and slap some sense into him and just say “get over it boy” but writers Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber rescue most of these moments with redeeming scenes of humour or the forward motion of Tom’s growing maturity.

In a genre overflowing with product, (500) Days of Summer stands out by virtue of good casting, interesting non-linear editing and a charm that saves the day. Good choice for that first date or even a return engagement, the kind that you hope will last at least until breakfast.

Rob Hudson
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Snowden was a young and prodigious computer geek that got involved in the US government network of spies and its American citizen electronic scrutiny. He got pulled in, chewed up and spit out when the morality of the domestic spying regime overwhelmed him. He ended up paying a very heavy price for his ethics.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is outstanding as Snowden and it’s almost eerie how close his portrayal comes to the real person (especially brought to light in the film’s coda where the real Edward Snowden makes an appearance). Rhys Ifans is also very good as one of Snowden’s mentors Corbin O’Brian. The scenes where Ifans literally fills the screen with an overwhelming presence are particular arresting.

As with all good dramas based on real events, Snowden is a great introduction to a story that will have ramifications for years to come or will it? When you read the details of the actual events, it’s very interesting that the story hasn’t really developed that much real world outrage.

Rob Hudson
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“As cinema lovers return to theatres across the country we are thrilled to be bringing TENET, Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, to the big screen,” Said Joel Pearlman, CEO Roadshow Films. “Fans of Nolan’s work know the scope and scale of his films are made for the theatrical environment and as we countdown to the opening of this latest global film event, we are excited to offer his classic INCEPTION in cinemas on its 10th anniversary, July 16th.”

John David Washington is the new Protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s original sci-fi action spectacle “Tenet.” Armed with only one word—Tenet—and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time. Not time travel. Inversion. The film also stars Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, with Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh. Nolan wrote and directed the film and also produced with Emma Thomas.

“Inception,” a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Nolan, who also produced the film with Emma Thomas, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for the implantation of another person’s idea into a target’s subconscious. The ensemble cast includes Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine.

For further information on session times and participating cinemas, please visit your local cinema website for full details.
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Snowden was a young and prodigious computer geek that got involved in the US government network of spies and its American citizen electronic scrutiny. He got pulled in, chewed up and spit out when the morality of the domestic spying regime overwhelmed him. He ended up paying a very heavy price for his ethics.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is outstanding as Snowden and it’s almost eerie how close his portrayal comes to the real person (especially brought to light in the film’s coda where the real Edward Snowden makes an appearance). Rhys Ifans is also very good as one of Snowden’s mentors Corbin O’Brian. The scenes where Ifans literally fills the screen with an overwhelming presence are particular arresting.

As with all good dramas based on real events, Snowden is a great introduction to a story that will have ramifications for years to come or will it? When you read the details of the actual events, it’s very interesting that the story hasn’t really developed that much real world outrage.

Rob Hudson
www.snowdenfilm.com

We have a tradition around these parts in putting a concentrated effort into scaring off our guests with warped movie playlists, eggnog with only booze and no nog and a black and yellow Christmas tree (a left over cinema display from Seinfeld’s grand folly, Bee Movie). Every year we add to the Kringle cruel collection but it’s been years since a movie this f&$%ed up has joined the mad menagerie.

The Night Before has just about everything to guaranty holiday good cheer, drugs, booze, tawdry sex in bathrooms, drug dealing angels, pugilist Santa’s, more drugs and Miley Cyrus. Oh and did I forget to mention the overabundance of cringe worthy moments and James Franco’s penis?

If you only see one Christmas movie this season, make sure it’s The Night Before. I want major box office success that breeds many sequels so our collection of twisted treats can grow year after year after year.

Rob Hudson
www.thenightbeforemovie.com.au

Enter Robert Zemeckis; director of numerous landmark films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Back To The Future, Forest Gump and Contact but has failed to match the quality and innovation of those films for nigh on twenty years. His last film, Flight, was a reasonable attempt at recapturing prior successes but it was no Contact. The time is right – nay overdue – for a return to form.

The Walk isn’t quite that film. But it is a very good film. It is imbued with the same emotional fibre of Man On Wire; when Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit takes that step out on to the wire, we experience that same heart-stopping moment we felt in the documentary. This feeling is compounded by Zemeckis’ use of modern digital 3D technology – so rarely has 3D cinema been applied as effectively and appropriately.

The story that Zemeckis presents is mostly true. Admirably true. It’s truer than most ‘true stories’ we see in the cinema these days but given our familiarity with Man On Wire there’s much less scope for Zemeckis to part with actual events. He does partake in some artistic licence, however. Some of it is for dramatic effect; some of it is metaphorical; and some of it is – less admirably – to cover some of Petit’s character flaws. But it is, for the most part, on the money.

If there’s a criticism to be had of The Walk, it is that it follows almost the exact same beats as the documentary. As a result, Zemeckis’ film doesn’t feel hugely different from Man On Wire, which begs the question: why make it in this manner?

Like the documentary, The Walk presents a strict chronology of the events leading up to the big moment, narrated step-by-step by Petit (Gordon-Levitt). Narrations in dramatisations often feel like a lazy story-telling device and here it feels no different. That Gordon-Levitt narrates the film atop the Statue of Liberty also feels heavily contrived. A little more creativity in the film’s structure, however, would perhaps balance out the on screen drama and elevate the film above it’s, albeit excellent, documentary predecessor.

Gordon-Levitt does well, however, in his portrait of Petit. He doesn’t much look like him but he sounds like him and possesses Petit’s fanciful, arrogant, carefree indignance and childish wonder.

In some ways The Walk suffers from the success of it’s predecessor and Zemeckis seems to be attempting to duplicate that success to the point of not producing anything uniquely his own. But regardless he is successful in duplicating Man On Wire’s appeal and his film is equally rewarding.

Stuart Jamieson
www.facebook.com/TheWalkMovie

The Dark Knight Rises sees Ra’s al Ghul’s League of Shadows try yet again to wipe Gotham City off the map with yet another device developed by Wayne Enterprises. The problem is, we’ve been here before. The films plot amounts to a rehash of ideas from Batman Begins, even the leader of the bad guys is (again) not who he appears to be.

While the ‘Ra’s al Ghul’ storyline was an interesting one in the context of Batman’s origin, it made for a relatively weak finale to Batman Begins and Nolan seeks to take this finale and reimagine it as the entire plot of The Dark Knight Rises. Sure it nicely brings the story full circle and it smartly references contemporary themes of terrorism, economic decline and the destruction of capitalism, but the story is no more interesting the second time around. The simple fact is that Ra’s al Ghul is not as interesting a character as, say, the Scarecrow or the Joker or even Harvey Dent, so it does the film no favours to re-introduce him albeit in another guise.

The film is also hindered by the fact that much of the dialogue is indecipherable. Bane, in particular, is a problem, his voice being muffled by his mask, but any time an action set-piece is underway it’s difficult to hear the dialogue above the din. It is difficult to say, admittedly, if this is a product of the audio mix or the acoustics of my local cinema but it poses a significant problem in following the plot’s finer points.

Thankfully, the strength of all Nolan’s Batman films have been the quality of his characters and The Dark knight Rises is no exception. Indeed, it is the characterisations and the performances of the cast that maintains the superior status of The Dark Knight Rises above the previous (non-Nolan) Batman movies.

Anne Hathaway is a very welcome addition as the unuttered Catwoman, all slinky and beautiful and devious; is there a better looking and more talented actress in Hollywood at the moment? And Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also excellent as Commissioner Gordon’s understudy. Even if his character arc is a tad predictable, we warm to him for the same reasons we warmed to Bruce Wayne. The usual suspects – Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman – deliver brilliant performances so predictably, they barely rate a mention anymore.

The weak link is, of course, Bane (Tom Hardy); not because Hardy isn’t any good but because his character is uninteresting and one dimensional. He looks, sounds and has the emotional depth of Humungus from Mad Max 2.

The Dark Knight Rises is directed by Christopher Nolan so naturally, it’s an extremely competent effort that is entertaining if a little overlong; it’s just a pity that all this brilliantly orchestrated action and engaging character development isn’t taking place within the context of a more engaging and original story.
Stuart Jamieson
www.thedarkknightrises.com